Grupo Carso’s Plans for 2011
Mr. Carlos Slim announced that Grupo Carso will invest 44.65 billion pesos in 2011, meaning a 13.6% increase from the year before.
Mexico City, January 31st, 2011
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Out of the total investments for 2011, it is estimated that 40% will go to the telecommunications sector, while the rest will be dedicated to all other sectors concerned by the Group.
In a press conference in Mexico City, Mr. Slim stated that his company IDEAL will receive the biggest investments this year, amounting to around 13 billion pesos. Minera Frisco will receive investments for 10 billion pesos.
Likewise, TELMEX and TELCEL will invest 10 billion pesos each during 2011.
Grupo Carso will thus increase by 13.6% the amount of its total investments for 2011 relative to the previous year. En 2010 investments amounted to 39.6 billion pesos.
Mr. Slim explained that with the new investment projects for 2011 it would be possible to create 20 thousand direct and indirect jobs.
Intervention by Mr. Carlos Slim at the event where he announced that Grupo Carso will invest a total of 44.65 billion pesos in Mexico in 2011.
The purpose of this meeting is to comment the plans of the Group for the year 2011. I would like to begin by saying that we are at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first Century, and we have just celebrated the forty-fifth anniversary of INBURSA Financial Group, as well as the 50 years of Grupo Carso, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Carlos Slim Foundation, and, most importantly, the twentieth anniversary of the privatization of TELMEX. Of the re-privatization really, since TELMEX had always been a private company, first under foreign and later under Mexican ownership, until the government acquired a majority stake of the company in 1973, which it then sold again in December 1990.
We are also celebrating the tenth anniversary of América Móvil and the TELMEX Foundation. We have begun this second decade with the largest investments ever made in the Group’s history. We are calculating investments in Mexico in the order of 44 thousand million Pesos, and from total a little over 40% will be in the telecommunications sector while the rest will be divided amongst the other areas of our concern.
This year the company with the most investments will be Ideal. Ideal will invest in roads, water-treatment plants, like the one in Atotonilco, and some infrastructure projects through concessions. It will invest around 13 thousand million Pesos. Next to it in importance is Frisco, which will invest more than 10 thousand million Pesos for the year 2011, although it has future projects of even greater magnitude. TELMEX and TELCEL are also investing amounts close to 10 thousand million Pesos each.
The purpose of many of these investments, beyond their economic and financial reasons and the economic interests behind them, is related to the plans and objectives of the Foundations. Our objectives and challenges, from an entrepreneurial, foundational and social point of view, include access to a high-speed digital network, more broadband width and more speed. One of our goals, and we have spoken about this in previous meetings, is that at least 2 out of 3 Mexicans have access to Internet; an objective to be extended to the rest of Latin America by 2015. We are obviously making a lot of efforts regarding economic growth and economic activities both in Mexico and Latin America in order to speed up the process as much as possible.
Another objective is to foster digital culture and education in our country. We are also very interested in promoting and accessing contents as well as applications for the Internet. We want to help develop new applications and make sure that those that already exist in our country are used more efficiently.
I mentioned the impulse to development and employment given by Ideal. However, coming back to the subject of telecommunications, I would like to mention our Program for Digital Education and Culture. We created this program to promote access to an ever faster broadband. For several years now we have been offering training courses in information technologies at INTTELMEX. These courses, however, have been offered internally. One of our main objectives this year is to create a Digital University, in order to develop human digital capital.
I believe we should respect our nation’s values, stimulate them and support them, if we are to create a significant national digital development. Access to the net is a part of this. It is something we have been promoting for a long time, since the arrival of personal computers in our country. This has also been done in 2010 through our intensive program of Digital Libraries, TELMEX Classrooms, 3,500 WiFi points, and the Technological Innovation program that began last year and will of course continue this year, etc. With the great structure we’ve created, all of the investments we have made, and all our future investments, we hope to promote a national digital culture, and of course the creation and development of human capital as well.
As regards the other programs, companies and aspects related to the Foundations, we are proud to say that this year we have also contributed to reconvert the urban landscape. We will soon conclude the museum, which is scheduled to open in March. We are completing the construction of the museum and finishing the buildings around Plaza Mariana. As you well know, Plaza Mariana itself was opened some days before December 12th. We will soon open the neighboring buildings and offer retail space to merchants now selling on the streets. This was our agreement with the Catholic Church and the reason why we donated the land in the first place. The Museum to Virgin Guadalupe will also be ready soon, as well as an evangelization center and a medical clinic, which will serve people living in the area and pilgrims. We have also created a program to assist pilgrims and to improve the socio-economic level of people living in the area. It is a program similar to the one we undertook in the Historical Center of Mexico City. By the way, I forgot to mention that we are also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the creation of an Advisory Council created next to the Mexico City’s Historical Center Executive Committee in August, 2001. With the example of this model we are trying to do something similar in the surroundings of the Basilica de Guadalupe, as well as around Plaza Carso.
As you know, we have several real estate projects that have already been announced. Our mining projects take place mostly in relatively remote areas, in the vicinity of small villages. We are currently discussing with authorities, specifically in Chihuahua, but also in Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and other states where we operate. The aim is to identify the best way to create new businesses and services related to the mining sector, regardless of the direct effects of the mining industry on employment and the rest of the economic activity it generates. The idea is to guarantee services like education, logistics, catering, laundering and general maintenance, as close as possible to the mine, through contracts and financial support for the entrepreneur who need them. We think this is very interesting because it will modernize nearby schools (or create new ones if there are none), clinics, stores and warehouses, which will cater for the new activities. This has had a great effect in these areas. I have some documents here and if you like I can read about some of the aspects that we have been working on.
We are providing the needed training in towns located near the mines on several topics as mechanics, welding, electricity, catering, personnel transportation and other services. We expect that workshops and small business will appear independently, thanks to our project and support.
Of course, our project will bring telecommunication technology to those places where there is none. In those where it already exists we will do all our best to make the TELMEX Classrooms and Digital Libraries available to all. The aim is to bring the benefits of our Digital Education and Culture to these areas as quickly as possible, as well as the rest of our Foundation programs like out of hospital surgeries, corrective eyeglasses, bicycles to go to school, and medical equipment, amongst others.
If necessary, we could install rural telephone services, though the government might do it. There are several issues to be tackled, issues that are not only concerned by investments. We have to find or create workforce in the vicinity, people from either the technological schools or the local CONALEP (National College of Professional Technical Education), instead of importing skilled workers from far away areas. This is obviously related to what I mentioned earlier about the creation of an open university, a Digital Technological University, which will not only offer the traditional university degrees, but other kinds of training as well. We are conducting a survey to find out about the jobs of the future. We will then make an effort to prepare new human capital in those areas. This will offer better job opportunities and help satisfy the demands of the new areas of economic activity. We do not want to search for workers, but create them. This means we need to know the areas of employment that will wane and those where there will be an increase, so to be prepared.
Furthermore, within the scope of the Foundations we signed an agreement for the conservation of biodiversity with the World Wildlife Fund. I believe this has been operating for a year and a half now, as well as several programs in association with the Health Institute.
I have presented a general outlook of our project and I will now only underline its main aspects. The most important point is that the investment program involves, as I said earlier, approximately 44 billion Pesos mainly through Ideal, with an amount close to 13 billion, then Frisco, TELMEX and TELCEL with a little over 10 billion each, and with Grupo Carso and the real estate development area representing smaller amounts. These are the most important areas.
I can mention a more precise capital expenditure figure of 44.65 billion, which is the equivalent of approximate to 3.66 billion Dollars. We estimate our suppliers in the order of 42,200 mostly of national origin (though I don’t remember the exact percentage).
We will now proceed to listen to your questions. This time I have a good team with me to help me answer them.
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