Telmex to cut fixed-line to mobile call rate by about half by 2018

Mexico's fixed-line telephone company Telmex said on Monday it will gradually lower the rate it charges for calls from land lines to mobile phones by about half over the next couple years.

Telmex, owned by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's América Móvil , will charge its customers a pre-tax rate of 0.342 pesos (US$0.0185) per minute in 2018, compared with 0.6763 pesos per minute currently, the company said in a statement.

The rate plan entails two intermediate reductions before reaching the 2018 price, the first one taking effect in August and a second one in 2017.

América Móvil operates around 70 percent of Mexico's mobile and fixed lines