Welcome to Latinometrics. We bring you Latin American insights and trends through concise, thought-provoking data visualizations. It’s great to have you on board.

Today’s charts

Make sure you check out the comment of the week at the bottom of this newsletter.

AT&T Mexico entered the market through its acquisition of Nextel and Iusacell in 2015. From then to 2018, it more than doubled its number of subscribers and added more new subscribers each quarter than Telcel, the country’s dominant telecom provider. That trend ended in early 2019, and since then, Telcel has added 3.8M new subscribers, while AT&T only 1.1M.

So, what caused the slow in growth? According to Speedtest, AT&T’s overall speed and consistency score are lower than its competitors. In general, AT&T’s prices are also higher than Telcel’s.

However, the entrance of a credible competitor to the long-reigning giant has arguably been a net positive for the country. According to a 2019 statement by AT&T Mexico CEO Monica Aspe, prices went down since they entered the market by 40%.

Given what some consider to be Telcel’s unfair advantage in the market (it holds more than 65% share), a new set of regulations was passed last year by the Telecom authority of Mexico (IFT). These are meant to make it easier for Telcel subscribers to switch to other networks. However, some argue that those are insufficient to even the playing field.

Latin America is a major exporter of goods for the rest of the world. A look at the region’s overall exports shows that it’s sending mostly raw materials. Examples of those raw materials are crude oil (petroleum), copper, gold, and soybeans.

Some countries, on the other hand, export mostly manufactured goods, and doing so boosts their economies. Complex manufacturing processes bring specialized jobs for citizens and usually better margins on finished products. Countries that have made manufactured goods their top products include: Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.

Over time, countries have exported more products to China. Starting in 2001, China began engaging Latin America and building strong economic ties. It mostly seeks the raw materials that the region produces and in turn exports manufactured goods back.

The US and China have thus become competitors for dominance in the region (and the world). An example of the competition has been displayed with COVID vaccines. As the world tried to battle the virus, the two countries battled for market share of their own produced vaccines.

Here’s a more detailed analysis of China’s growing ties with Latin America.

A couple of months ago, we did a deep dive into FEMSA’s finances (Oxxo’s parent company). However, as the chain reaches its 20,000 locations, we thought it’d be appropriate to compare it to some of the biggest chains in the US and showcase how big Oxxo’s presence is in Mexico.

The Oxxo slogan is “a la vuelta de tu vida” literally meaning “just around your life.” And that slogan couldn’t be more accurate. There seems to be one in every block of the country. What Oxxo offers is way more than convenience store products, it allows anyone to pay their utility bills, make bank deposits, and even make e-commerce payments with cash. By integrating its cash register with Mexico’s biggest banks, it’s estimated that 80% of all cash deposits are made in an Oxxo.

The only US chain with more locations than Oxxo is Subway with 24,154. However, unlike Oxxo, none of Subway’s locations are company-owned. They are all franchises and run independently. FEMSA, on the other hand, operates all of its 20k stores and does a peculiar job to standardize them. This allows them to offer the same customer experience whether you visit a store in Tijuana or Merida.

Here’s the comment of the week. It came from our Citibanamex chart on LinkedIn:

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