History of Telmex

Telmex or Telephones of Mexico was founded in 1947 when the Ericsson companies in Mexico and the International Telephone and Telegraph Company merged, thus becoming the only provider of telephone services in the country.

The Mexican State granted facilities so that on August 20, 1958, Mexican businessmen could acquire all of the shares of Telmex that were in the hands of the two transnationals (ITT and Ericsson), with which the national capital managed to control the company.

In 1990, Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari began a privatization process. In which several groups of investors made up of national and international companies presented themselves, and the winner turned out to be Grupo Carso, created by Carlos Slim and the foreign companies France Télécom and SBC Communications, along with other small investors. However, this consortium seized 53% and, being the majority shareholder, bought the remainder, leaving the rest of the group with 31% of the shares.

Finally, in 1991, the Mexican government sold the remaining shares. Later, in 1999 Grupo Carso bought back the shares of its partners and was left with complete control of the company.

This sale caused doubts worldwide, due to the relationship of businessman Carlos Slim with then President Carlos Salinas.

After its privatization, Telmex began with an investment plan in new technology, fiber optics and total coverage of the country, to the point of forming a quasi-monopoly. Charges were reestablished in public telephone booths by replacing the old GTE Corporation dial booths with individual electronic card digital booths.

In 1997, the Mexican long-distance telephony market was opened, with which AT&T and Avantel entered, among others, but none of the changes affected Telmex.

In 2000, Telmex obtained the National Technology Award; in 2001 it was designated by Forbes Magazine as the best telecommunications company in the world, and in 2006 it was recognized as a Socially Responsible Company for the fifth consecutive year.

On the other hand, in 2002, Telmex developed a program to create a channel of communication with children and provide them with fun, entertainment called “La pandilla Telmex" (The Telmex Gang).

This gang has 4 members: Marco, Tonito, Cablín and Redecita. For this, the website www.pandillatelmex.com was created, which is still in force.