|
News from Latin America
|
 |
August 7, 2000: 6:45 p.m. ET
Long-distance operators fear Telmex; InvestShop.com sales expand
|
NEW YORK (BNamericas.com) - Long-distance operators in Mexico accused Telmex of illegal practices, and B2B holding BtoBen acquired a minority stake in online plastic marketplace LatinPlasticos.com.
Also, InvestShop.com launched online sales of life and home insurance.
LD operators fear Telmex influence on SCT
Mexican long-distance operators have accused incumbent operator Telmex of illegal activities and urged the regulator Cofetel to revoke Telmex's operating license in an attempt to dissuade President-elect Vicente Fox from appointing a former Telmex executive as his transport & communications secretary, an industry source said.
Long-distance operator Avantel requested revocation of Telmex's license last week and fellow operator Marcatel backed the petition on Thursday (August 3), local press reported.
Telmex's interconnection fees are the highest in the world and prevent competitors from making fresh investments, Marcatel President Gustavo de la Garza said.
Operators fear that Telmex president Carlos Slim has recommended former Telmex operations director Pedro Cerisola, a personal friend of Fox, as the new secretary.
The Mexican press has also speculated that Fox's friendship with Roberto Hernandez, president and chairman of Avantel parent company Banamex, could be a threat to Telmex. However, Slim told La Cronica (Mexico) that he expects Fox to put his presidential duties before his friendships.
Slim went on to label Avantel's Clinton, Miss.-based parent Worldcom Inc. (WCOM: Research, Estimates) as part of a duopoly with AT&T (T: Research, Estimates), parent company of fellow Telmex rival Alestra. The U.S. government is protecting this duopoly by pressuring the Mexican government to apply control measures against Telmex, he said, adding that it was a misguided approach given that IP telephony is likely to replace long distance.
BtoBen acquires minority stake in Plastics Portal
Argentine B2B holding BtoBen has acquired a minority stake in Brazil-based LatinPlasticos.com, an online marketplace for the Latin American plastics industry, CEO Nicolas Pichon-Riviere said, without disclosing the amount of the investment.
LatinPlasticos is currently running in a beta version, but should launch in the next few days, Pichon-Riviere said, adding that the site will expand into Argentina in two months, and into Mexico before year's end.
The site will feature Request For Proposal (RFQ) e-commerce, catalog sales, auctions and reversed auctions and will generate revenues from advertising and transaction commissions, Pichon-Riviere explained. In addition, the site will feature industry-related news and information, and access to financing and logistics options.
LatinPlasticos meets competition from Miami-based TodoPlasticos, which launched in June with plans to invest $3 million before year-end. In the next few months, TodoPlasticos plans to open three main offices in the region: one in Bogota, Colombia, to handle the Andean Pact region; one in Sao Paulo to serve the Mercosur block; and one in Mexico City to cover Mexico and Central America, TodoPlasticos business developer Alberto Sasson said in June.
Miami-based venture capital fund Glacier Internet Investments and incubator Latin American Access back TodoPlasticos.
Research firm Gartner Group believes the plastics industry will be among the first industries to pick up on B2B e-commerce. Others are chemicals, automotive, metals, utilities, office supplies, paper, food service, apparel and agriculture. All these are all characterized by large inventories, fragmented supply sources and inefficient supply chain processes, the group explained, and can quickly gain benefits by streamlining and automating operations online.
InvestShop launches online insurance sales
Brazil-based financial services site InvestShop.com has launched online sales of life and home insurance, Gazeta Mercantil (Brazil) reported.
Launched on March 15, 1999, InvestShop now operates country-specific portals in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. It offers online stock trading, transaction capabilities, financial content, real-time news, games, forums and chats.
InvestShop earlier this year announced it would invest $100 million in Latin American operations before year-end.
The site received the iBest award for best financial services site in 2000.
Source: BNamericas 
|
|
|
BNamericas.com
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
