Mexican Tycoon Carlos Slim's Telcel Erases Mobile Borders Be

In the never-ending mobile phone wars among telecom giants, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s Telcel was forced by competitors to “eliminate” the Mexico-U.S. border and allow mobile users to call from Mexico to the U.S. and vice versa for just a small charge.

Telcel, Mexico’s dominant wireless telephone company, is a unit of Slim-controlled América Móvil. It said July 16 that under the plan “Telcel Sin Frontera” (Telcel Without Border), mobile users can call and text to the U.S. without paying long distance charges, and when they travel to the U.S. they will be able to use their minutes, messages and MBs just as they would in Mexico, with no roaming charges.

Telcel charges a monthly service fee of 50 Mexican pesos (around US$3) for the “Telcel Sin Frontera” plan which subscribers can activate in Mexico or the U.S.