Carlos Slim Sees Fat Profits on the Internet

Carlos Slim became the world's richest man by recognizing the pent-up demand for mobile phones in Latin America, where just 12 percent of the population had a cellphone when his América Móvil (AMX) went public a decade ago. Now the largest mobile-phone company in the Americas, with more subscribers than AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless combined, the company is eyeing a similar market that today reaches only a small fraction of Latin Americans: the Internet. In the next five years, the company forecasts, 400 million people in the region will have their own Internet connection, up from 60 million today. Most will use a wireless device to get online, presenting América Móvil with an opportunity. "It's the future," says Daniel Hajj, the company's 45-year-old chief executive officer and a son-in-law of Slim. "Data will be as important as voice was in its own moment."

Hajj believes the Internet is key to reinvigorating what had been Latin America's premier growth company. In 10 years, América Móvil has grown from 10 million customers in Mexico into Latin America's telecom giant, with 225 million wireless clients in 18 countries. Revenue has grown at a 32 percent average clip every year since 2000, when the company split off from then-parent Teléfonos de México (TMX), the Mexican landline company it now controls. Today, with roughly one mobile-phone line for every person in Latin America, wireless is no longer growing so quickly. That's why Hajj is counting on the increasing appetite for movie downloads, music streaming, and video chats to refuel his company's growth for this decade.