Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Grupo Televisa SAB, Mexico's largest broadcaster, plans to bid for a license to operate a wireless high-speed Internet network to broaden the reach of its broadband and telephone services.

Wireless technology would let Televisa offer service where wiring is difficult to install, said Ignacio Gallardo, chief financial officer for Televisa's cable unit, Empresas Cablevision SAB, in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. The Mexican government plans to auction licenses to offer WiMax, a wireless Internet technology that can blanket cities from a single tower, this year.

Televisa is expanding its cable television unit to take on telecommunications rivals by offering packages of voice, data and video services, the so-called ``triple play.'' The move represents a challenge to Telefonos de Mexico SAB, Mexico's biggest fixed-line phone company with about 90 percent of the market, as regulators boost competition.

``Part of our strategy is to enter the telecommunications business,'' Gallardo said. ``It's a new market with new competitors,''

Televisa, based in Mexico City, expects to increase its telephone customers to 40,000 by the end of the year from 9,000 in December, as it expands marketing and offers unlimited calling packages, Gallardo said.

Grupo Televisa will benefit next year from the adoption of telephone number portability, which lets users switch companies and keep their numbers, Gallardo said. The rules will allow Televisa to win customers from Telefonos de Mexico, he said.

Business Customers

Televisa's cable unit will promote its offering of television, telephone and data services to business customers starting in the second half of the year, Gallardo said.

``All the telecommunications companies will begin offering the same services soon,'' he said.

Televisa fell 1.50 pesos, or 3.1 percent, to 47.12 pesos at the end of Mexico City trading. The shares have fallen 9.5 percent this year, compared with a 2.1 percent decline in Mexico's benchmark Bolsa index.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Freebairn in Mexico City at wfreebairn@bloomberg.net; Carlos M. Rodriguez in New York at crodriguez17@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 29, 2008 16:33 EST