Alestra

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Alestra was awarded a concession to operate as a national and international long distance carrier in April 1996. Alestra was one of the eight companies that obtained a concession to operate as long distance carriers between 1995 and 1996. Such licenses were issued as part of the Mexican liberalization of its telecommunications market. Alestra was a consortium integrated by AT&T, Alfa, Bancomer, and Valores Industriales (VISA). Alestra's project consisted of building a two phase 8,600 km fiber optic cable in Mexico to provide national and international long distance services. The total project cost was estimated as US$ 626 million. The first phase consisted of a 4,800 km fiber cable which connected main Mexican cities. Alestra developed the first phase cost around US$ 400 million and was operational by the end of 1996. In the second phase, which was scheduled to be operational by 2000, the fiber optic cable would be expanded by additional 4,300 kms. However, the company put on hold its investments by February 1998. The argued reason was a lack of impartial regulation by Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones (Cofetel), the Mexican regulatory agency for telecommunications. Therefore, Alestra had not added an extra 4300 km of cable by December 2000. Instead, the company's network was of 5000 Km of fiber cable and its total investment up to December 2000 was of US$ 1.100 million. In 2005, Alestra renewed its contract with South Bell Communications (SBC) to use the AT&T brand for two more years.