Article Abstract:
Two multinational consortiums and one Mexican group bid for Telefonos de Mexico, the national telephone company. One consortium links a Mexican concern, Accival Casa de Bolsa, together with GTE and Telefonica de Espana. The other involves Mexican Grupo Carso, Southwestern Bell and France Cable and Radio. The third bidder is an all-Mexican consortium, Grupo Gentor. Bids for the phone company, known as Telmex, set a stage for one of the largest and most complex sales of a government-held enterprise ever attempted. The overall value of Telmex is estimated at $7 billion to $8 billion. Mexico's president, Carlos Salinas de Gotari, hopes not only to gain money for Mexico's treasury, but also an assurance that Telmex's new owners will overhaul a communication system that is now an obstacle to modernization of the nation's economy.
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Article Abstract:
Nynex corporation workers are expected to end a 16-week strike that was to end Dec 4, 1989. A three-year wages and benefits contract has finally been negotiated by the company and the Communication Workers of America, and the union is expected to ratify the contract in a Dec 1, 1989, vote. The biggest problem in negotiations has been disagreement over whether workers or the company would pay for health care costs. Workers have agreed to forgo bonuses and profit-sharing in return for health care benefits. The strike involved 40,000 workers and disrupted installation and repairs more than other services. Some 560 acts of vandalism caused problems in New York State, however. Nynex claims that four months may pass before business is back to normal, and the company's earning estimates have been lowered by some analysts.
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Article Abstract:
The Mexican government announces that it will sell its 51 percent share of the country's telecommunications monopoly, Telefonos de Mexico. The telephone company, known as Telemex, was acquired by the government in 1972. President Carlos Salinas de Gortari decided to privatize Telemex as part of his plan to rid the country of unprofitable, state-owned businesses. Telecommunications in Mexico ranks 82 on a worldwide list, with only 4.9 telephone lines per 100 people. Telephone service is provided to only two out of every ten homes and the more than 1.5 million requests for new installations have been ignored. Foreign companies are now allowed to buy up to a 49 percent share in Mexico's telecommunications companies.
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