Spanish-Language Web Portal Unveiled by Gates, Mexico’s Slim
The world’s richest man and Latin America’s wealthiest entrepreneur combined their formidable resources Tuesday to launch a Web portal targeting the exploding Latin American market, where the number of Internet users is expected to double within three years.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helu formally launched T1MSN, the Latin American version of Microsoft’s MSN portal in the United States. The T1 portal for Mexico--https://www.t1msn.com--went online Tuesday, and versions for other Latin American countries will debut later this year.
The launch of T1MSN raises the stakes in the battle for the Internet market in Latin America. The new portal will compete with more established regional players such as Yahoo en Espanol, Terra Networks and Latin Web leader StarMedia. At least two more formidable competitors, America Online Latin America and media heavyweight Grupo Televisa, are planning to launch Internet networks in Mexico this year.
Slim’s dominance of telecommunications in Mexico may give T1MSN the clout that MSN lacks in the U.S., where its 2 million subscribers leave it a distant second to AOL’s 22 million subscribers.
Speaking with reporters in Mexico City through a video link from a conference in Miami, Gates and Slim said that local content providers in each Latin country will provide T1MSN with entertainment, news, chats, free e-mail and other services in Spanish.
The portal gives Slim another key link in a high-tech chain that embraces telephony, computer sales and Internet dial-up service for Latin Americans and the U.S. Latino community.
Slim, estimated by Forbes Magazine to be worth $8 billion, controls Telefonos de Mexico, the privatized national phone company known as Telmex, and has stakes in Prodigy, CompUSA and other businesses. His family-run firms also control retailers such as Sears’ Mexico operations and the Grupo Sanborns chain, both well-placed to exploit online sales opportunities.
Gates and Slim declined to disclose investment figures for the project, but industry estimates have pegged the new venture at $100 million. Gerardo Villareal, the new president of T1MSN, said a major edge for the new Microsoft-Telmex portal comes from the 5 million Latin American users of Hotmail, Microsoft’s free e-mail service. All of that traffic will be linked directly to T1, creating a huge instant market. In addition, Villareal noted, all of Telmex-Prodigy’s 1-million-plus subscribers in Mexico will be automatically switched over to T1.
What’s more, the majority of new PCs sold in Latin America with Microsoft software will have T1 set up as the default home page for Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s Internet software.
Using the Spanish pronunciation of T1 (teh-uno), Gates said: “T1 will be the leading Spanish-language portal everywhere in the world.”
He noted that although 80% of Internet users are currently U.S. residents, “it’s not going to stay that way.”
“If you look at the growth opportunity we have in Latin America, it’s actually stronger than anywhere, and that’s why we’re willing to invest and get out in front,” Gates added. “We feel we’re starting with a critical mass and we’ll take it from there.”
Indeed, International Data Corp., a Massachusetts-based Internet consulting firm, estimated this month that the number of Internet users in Latin America will more than double from 13.3 million at the end of 2000 to 29.6 million by the end of 2003.
IDC also said it has raised its previous projected annual growth for Internet users in the region from 32% to 41% for the period from 1998 to 2003. In dollar value, IDC points to similar growth in Internet services in Latin America, from $1.4 billion in 1999 to an expected $8.1 billion by 2004.
A significant factor in these growth rates is the recent introduction of free Internet access by providers such as Spain’s Telefonica and Brazil’s Universo Online, said Annika Ford, IDC’s Latin America manager.
In Mexico, Telefonica has joined with local Internet service provider Infosel to build up its Terra Networks portal, and recently announced that it will offer free Internet access via Terra.
Villareal said T1 will not establish its own editorial teams but rather will rely on suppliers to determine their content “without filters” imposed by the portal.
The new venture excludes Portuguese-speaking Brazil, concentrating only on Spanish-speaking countries, although Gates indicated that a similar Brazilian initiative would follow. Beyond the initial Mexican site, T1 will establish country-specific versions in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Central America and the United States.
