Telcel
Encyclopedia
Telcel is Mexico's largest mobile phone carrier, owned by América Móvil
. Founded in 1989 and based in Mexico City
, Telcel is the leading provider of wireless communications services in Mexico. As of December 31, 2006, Telcel's cellular network covered more than 63% of the geographical area of Mexico, including all major cities, and 90% of Mexico's population. Telcel holds concessions to operate a wireless network in all nine geographic regions in Mexico using both the 850 megahertz and 1900 megahertz radio spectrum. According to Cofetel (Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones -Mexico's Federal Telecomms Commision-), as of July 2008, Telcel's subscribers represented an estimated 77.2% share of the Mexican wireless market. On August 2011, Telcel reported it has 66.9 million cellular subscribers.
Telcel offers voice services under a variety of rate plans to meet the needs of different market segments. The rate plans are either postpaid
, where the customer is billed monthly for the previous month, or prepaid, where the customer pays in advance for a specified volume of use over a specified period. Telcel believes the prepaid market represents a large and growing under-penetrated market in Mexico.
Telcel also offers several prepaid plans, none of which includes activation or monthly charges. Prepaid customers purchase a prepaid card for a specific amount of airtime and also receive additional services such as voicemail and caller ID. As part of its prepaid service offering, Telcel provides new customers with an Amigo Kit, which includes airtime, a handset, a charger and other accessories.
Prepaid customers are often unwilling to make a fixed financial commitment or do not have the credit profile to purchase postpaid plans. Prepaid plans serve the needs of distinct consumer segments such as the youth market, families, customers with variable income who otherwise would not be able to obtain service due to their credit profile, and customers who prefer to pay in cash. Prepaid customers also include parents who wish to control costs for their children.
In November 2006, an American embassy cable released via Wikileaks
listed Telcel among "Mexico's monopolists", with a market share of 80% of cellular service. Telmex
was listed with a market share of 95% share of landlines.
to its customers. Telcel began to offer MMS through GSM technology to postpaid and prepaid customers in March 2003. Since December 2004, postpaid and prepaid customers may send and receive short messages to and from users of networks in the United States and more recently to and from 34 other countries. In April 2002, Telcel became the first Mexican operator to offer premium information services through its SMS capabilities, including weather reports, financial quotes, entertainment news and even had relationships with the National Basketball Association
(NBA) and the National Football League
(NFL) of the United States.
Telcel supplies data services in GPRS, EDGE
, 3G
and 3.5G.
, or "WAP", is a global standard designed to make Internet services available to mobile telephone users. Telcel offers WAP including e-mail, data and information services and electronic commerce transactions. Telcel launched its WAP gateway in September 2000, enabling its prepaid and postpaid users in those regions to access e-mail, banking, and a variety of reservation and other types of electronic commerce services.
, Palm
and Microsoft
they offer customers products like the BlackBerry
, the Treo
and Windows Mobile
handsets which Telcel customers use to manage multiple e-mail accounts, review and edit e-mail attachments and surf the web. Telcel also offers data coverage in Mexico and other countries where they have roaming agreements using GPRS, EDGE
and recently UMTS / HSDPA celular technology in most places.
, golf
tournaments, soccer, and other events in Mexico. In addition, Telcel employs concentrated advertising efforts to promote specific products and services such as the Amigo Kit.
Telcel also distributes prepaid cards and handsets, the latter as part of the Telcel Amigo Kit consisting of handsets and free airtime ranging from 20 to 500 minutes, through distributors that include Telmex
, Sears, Sanborns and its network of retail outlets. It is estimated that, as of March 31, 2007, prepaid cards are available through approximately 150,000 points of sale in Mexico.
Telcel sells prepaid airtime principally through the sale of cards. Telcel has made arrangements in the United States to allow for the purchase of airtime for Telcel postpaid and prepaid phone subscribers in Mexico. Money is applied at merchant retail locations in the United States, dollars get converted to pesos at the current exchange rate
, and the airtime is applied immediately to the handset in Mexico. The Telcel subscriber will receive an SMS message alerting them of the added airtime. This process has been known to be called value transfer system
. Companies like Global Payment Solutions (GPS) have been leading the distribution of this value-transfer model in the United States.
The most recent marketing strategy is mainly promoted in TV and movie theaters, the slogan they use is "I'm Telcel as are millions of other Mexicans"
Complaints filed with the Mexican Consumer Protection Bureau (PROFECO ) numbered 3,078 during 2008, with a little over $1,600,000 pesos incurred in fines.
, Hermosillo
, Mérida
, León
, Morelia
, Monterrey
, Tijuana
, Puebla
, Santiago de Querétaro
and México D.F.. This is the 2nd 3G Wireless Network after Iusacell
's 3G Nationwide CDMA2000 network, and then expanding to other cities to finally become a national 3G network which will reach more than 350 cities. Telcel's 3G network is based on UMTS / HSDPA technology.
With this technology, the company's users now can have high speed internet, video calls, television and other media options in their phones including the postpaid and prepaid customers.
Telcel launched its HSPA+ network in Mexico City and other mayor cities in Mexico in November and it is currently deploying it in the rest of the country, this will give users a higher speed internet service.
Unlike Iusacell that advertises its HSPA+ network as a "4G network" Telcel will advertise its HSPA+ Network as a "3.5G network" and will launch soon an LTE network which is going to be advertised as a "4G Network"
Telcel plans to have HSPA+ on Mexico's main cities by the end of 2011, and launch LTE on 2012.
Telcel has a large number of customer service complaints on consumer websites in Mexico.
América Móvil
América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunication company headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the fourth largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers, one of the largest corporations in Latin America, and the world. America Movil is a Fortune 500 company...
. Founded in 1989 and based in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, Telcel is the leading provider of wireless communications services in Mexico. As of December 31, 2006, Telcel's cellular network covered more than 63% of the geographical area of Mexico, including all major cities, and 90% of Mexico's population. Telcel holds concessions to operate a wireless network in all nine geographic regions in Mexico using both the 850 megahertz and 1900 megahertz radio spectrum. According to Cofetel (Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones -Mexico's Federal Telecomms Commision-), as of July 2008, Telcel's subscribers represented an estimated 77.2% share of the Mexican wireless market. On August 2011, Telcel reported it has 66.9 million cellular subscribers.
Voice services
Telcel provides services in AMPS, GSM, and TDMA. Because of the wide base of older technologies like TDMA and AMPS they are still in use.Telcel offers voice services under a variety of rate plans to meet the needs of different market segments. The rate plans are either postpaid
Postpaid
Post Paid: A model of cellular service whereby the customer is charged for usage in the prior month , and hence does not feature any limitations on volume of service used...
, where the customer is billed monthly for the previous month, or prepaid, where the customer pays in advance for a specified volume of use over a specified period. Telcel believes the prepaid market represents a large and growing under-penetrated market in Mexico.
Telcel also offers several prepaid plans, none of which includes activation or monthly charges. Prepaid customers purchase a prepaid card for a specific amount of airtime and also receive additional services such as voicemail and caller ID. As part of its prepaid service offering, Telcel provides new customers with an Amigo Kit, which includes airtime, a handset, a charger and other accessories.
Prepaid customers are often unwilling to make a fixed financial commitment or do not have the credit profile to purchase postpaid plans. Prepaid plans serve the needs of distinct consumer segments such as the youth market, families, customers with variable income who otherwise would not be able to obtain service due to their credit profile, and customers who prefer to pay in cash. Prepaid customers also include parents who wish to control costs for their children.
In November 2006, an American embassy cable released via Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
listed Telcel among "Mexico's monopolists", with a market share of 80% of cellular service. Telmex
Telmex
Telmex is a telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and other countries in Latin America. In addition to traditional fixed-line telephone service, Telmex also offers Internet access, data,...
was listed with a market share of 95% share of landlines.
Push-to-Talk Services
In 2004, Telcel began to offer push-to-talk services over its GSM network, though the main Push-to-talk provider in Mexico, as well as in other countries, is NEXTEL.Data services
In January 2002, Telcel began to offer two-way SMSSMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
to its customers. Telcel began to offer MMS through GSM technology to postpaid and prepaid customers in March 2003. Since December 2004, postpaid and prepaid customers may send and receive short messages to and from users of networks in the United States and more recently to and from 34 other countries. In April 2002, Telcel became the first Mexican operator to offer premium information services through its SMS capabilities, including weather reports, financial quotes, entertainment news and even had relationships with the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(NBA) and the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL) of the United States.
Telcel supplies data services in GPRS, EDGE
Edge
- Aviation :* Leading edge, a line connecting the forward-most points of a wing's profile* Trailing edge, the rear edge of the wing* Zivko Edge 540, an aerobatic aircraft- Mathematics, science and technology :...
, 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
and 3.5G.
Ideas Telcel
Through the Ideas Telcel portal, Telcel offers its customers mobile entertainment services, including SMS, MMS, e-mail, news and personalized downloads, such as ringtones, screensavers, text and video games, wallpapers, and interactive forums. In May 2006, Telcel launched TV content services which allow certain customers to access news, cartoon, documentary and sports channels through their handsets.Internet
Wireless application protocolWireless Application Protocol
Wireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...
, or "WAP", is a global standard designed to make Internet services available to mobile telephone users. Telcel offers WAP including e-mail, data and information services and electronic commerce transactions. Telcel launched its WAP gateway in September 2000, enabling its prepaid and postpaid users in those regions to access e-mail, banking, and a variety of reservation and other types of electronic commerce services.
Oficina Móvil Telcel
"Oficina Móvil" allows Telcel customers to access e-mail and personal information management tools, such as calendars and address books, through their handsets. Through strategic alliances with companies such as Research in MotionResearch In Motion
Research In Motion Limited or RIM is a Canadian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada that designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market...
, Palm
Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., was a smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that was responsible for products such as the Pre and Pixi as well as the Treo and Centro smartphones. Previous product lines include the PalmPilot, Palm III, Palm V, Palm VII, Zire and Tungsten. While their older...
and Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
they offer customers products like the BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
, the Treo
Treo
The Palm Treo is a line of smartphones originally developed by Handspring, which was bought by Palm, Inc. They are now manufactured and maintained by Palm, Inc. Treos have a number of integrated features such as the ability to check the calendar while talking on the phone, dial directly from a...
and Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
handsets which Telcel customers use to manage multiple e-mail accounts, review and edit e-mail attachments and surf the web. Telcel also offers data coverage in Mexico and other countries where they have roaming agreements using GPRS, EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
and recently UMTS / HSDPA celular technology in most places.
Roaming
Telcel offers international roaming services to subscribers as well as pre-paid users. Users pay international roaming fees and are able to roam outside of Mexico, using the networks of cellular service providers with which Telcel has entered into roaming agreements. Telcel has entered into approximately 385 such agreements covering GSM and TDMA D-AMPS networks around the world. Telcel offers international roaming services including special rates to subscribers roaming in the U.S. border, the U.S., Canada and other markets.Marketing
Telcel develops, customer and brand awareness, through its marketing and promotion efforts and customer service. It advertises aggressively. Telcel sponsors professional tennis Abierto Mexicano TELCELAbierto Mexicano Telcel
The Abierto Mexicano Telcel is a tennis tournament held in Acapulco, Mexico. It is an event on both the ATP Tour and the WTA Tour...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
tournaments, soccer, and other events in Mexico. In addition, Telcel employs concentrated advertising efforts to promote specific products and services such as the Amigo Kit.
Sales and Distribution
Telcel markets its wireless services primarily through exclusive distributors located throughout Mexico. As of March 31, 2007, Telcel had relationships with a network of approximately 1,171 exclusive distributors, who sell Telcel's services and products through approximately 48,320 points of sale and receive commissions.Telcel also distributes prepaid cards and handsets, the latter as part of the Telcel Amigo Kit consisting of handsets and free airtime ranging from 20 to 500 minutes, through distributors that include Telmex
Telmex
Telmex is a telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and other countries in Latin America. In addition to traditional fixed-line telephone service, Telmex also offers Internet access, data,...
, Sears, Sanborns and its network of retail outlets. It is estimated that, as of March 31, 2007, prepaid cards are available through approximately 150,000 points of sale in Mexico.
Telcel sells prepaid airtime principally through the sale of cards. Telcel has made arrangements in the United States to allow for the purchase of airtime for Telcel postpaid and prepaid phone subscribers in Mexico. Money is applied at merchant retail locations in the United States, dollars get converted to pesos at the current exchange rate
Exchange rate
In finance, an exchange rate between two currencies is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another. It is also regarded as the value of one country’s currency in terms of another currency...
, and the airtime is applied immediately to the handset in Mexico. The Telcel subscriber will receive an SMS message alerting them of the added airtime. This process has been known to be called value transfer system
Value transfer system
A value transfer system refers to any system, mechanism, or network of people that receives money for the purpose of making the funds or an equivalent value payable to a third party in another geographic location, whether or not in the same form....
. Companies like Global Payment Solutions (GPS) have been leading the distribution of this value-transfer model in the United States.
The most recent marketing strategy is mainly promoted in TV and movie theaters, the slogan they use is "I'm Telcel as are millions of other Mexicans"
Customer Service
Approximately 55% of Telcel's employees are dedicated to customer service.Complaints filed with the Mexican Consumer Protection Bureau (PROFECO ) numbered 3,078 during 2008, with a little over $1,600,000 pesos incurred in fines.
3G Technology
Telcel officially launched its 3G (850Mhz Band) services on February 25, 2008 initially in the cities of: GuadalajaraGuadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
, Hermosillo
Hermosillo
Hermosillo is a city and municipality located centrally in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the capital and main economic center for the state and region. It contains almost all of the state's manufacturing and has thirty percent of its population...
, Mérida
Mérida, Yucatán
Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...
, León
León, Guanajuato
The city of León, formally León de los Aldama is the sixth most populous city in Mexico and the first in the state of Guanajuato. It is also the seat of the municipality of León...
, Morelia
Morelia
Morelia is a city and municipality in the north central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital of the state. The main pre-Hispanic cultures here were the P'urhépecha and the Matlatzinca, but no major cities were founded in the...
, Monterrey
Monterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
, Tijuana
Tijuana
Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...
, Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
, Santiago de Querétaro
Santiago de Querétaro
Santiago de Querétaro is the capital and largest city of the state of Querétaro, located in central Mexico. It is located 213 km northwest of Mexico City, 96 km southeast of San Miguel de Allende and 200 km south of San Luis Potosí...
and México D.F.. This is the 2nd 3G Wireless Network after Iusacell
Iusacell
Grupo Iusacell is Mexico's #3 mobile operator.-Services:The company provides cellular services reaching about 90% of Mexico's population, including Mexico City and received more licenses to cover the remaining regions in early 2005. It has more than 3.5 million subscribers...
's 3G Nationwide CDMA2000 network, and then expanding to other cities to finally become a national 3G network which will reach more than 350 cities. Telcel's 3G network is based on UMTS / HSDPA technology.
With this technology, the company's users now can have high speed internet, video calls, television and other media options in their phones including the postpaid and prepaid customers.
Telcel launched its HSPA+ network in Mexico City and other mayor cities in Mexico in November and it is currently deploying it in the rest of the country, this will give users a higher speed internet service.
Unlike Iusacell that advertises its HSPA+ network as a "4G network" Telcel will advertise its HSPA+ Network as a "3.5G network" and will launch soon an LTE network which is going to be advertised as a "4G Network"
Telcel plans to have HSPA+ on Mexico's main cities by the end of 2011, and launch LTE on 2012.
Criticism
Telcel's commercial and monopolistic practices have earned a great deal of criticism among the industry.Telcel has a large number of customer service complaints on consumer websites in Mexico.