Mexico Clears Televisa Mobile-Phone Venture

Mexico's antitrust commission dealt a potential blow to Carlos Slim, the world's richest man, by allowing the country's leading television company to take a stake in mobile-phone operator Grupo Iusacell, in a challenge to Slim's America Movil.

The agency, which had originally blocked the proposed joint venture between Grupo Televisa and Iusacell, said on appeal that the deal could proceed, but imposed several conditions involving television advertising, programming and corporate governance. Televisa, the world's top producer of Spanish-language programming, said it plans to analyze the conditions before deciding whether to accept or contest them. If Televisa accepts the agency's terms, it would mark the company's entry into Mexico's coveted mobile-phone market, which is dominated by America Movil. The conditions also could prompt Slim's companies to resume advertising on the free broadcast channels run by Televisa and TV Azteca, Mexico's No. 2 broadcaster.