América Móvil’s $9 Billion Bet on AI and Innovation

According to Forbes, América Móvil dominates Latin American telecommunications with operations extending into Europe through Telekom Austria, now branded A1. The company invests a staggering $8-9 billion annually on infrastructure and technology, maintaining everything from 5G in major hubs to 3G in select locations. Chief Digital Intelligence Officer Andrés Vázquez describes himself as a “technology matchmaker” whose job is to “find what works, plug it in fast and make sure it delivers.” With a career spanning 35 years since the company’s privatization when it served just three Mexican cities with fewer than 30,000 customers, Vázquez has lived through every technology wave from narrowband to AI.

The matchmaker mandate

Here’s the thing about Vázquez’s unusual title – it’s designed to break from traditional corporate structures. He’s not building everything in-house but rather scanning the market for partners who can solve real problems this year, not just chase trends. And he’s got the governance structure to back it up – with the Slim family as principal shareholders, decisions happen fast and spending follows results, not fashion.

Basically, his team reviews thousands of companies annually, performs due diligence, and makes introductions to operating leaders. He calls it “venture capital without capital.” Most ideas get declined, but the right few advance quickly. The bar is high – solutions must either create new revenue, streamline operations, or improve customer satisfaction. If it doesn’t fit one of those three lenses, it doesn’t come in.

The AI reality check

Now, about this AI moment everyone’s talking about. Vázquez has seen many technology shifts, but he calls generative AI the most profound. “The speed is something I have never seen,” he says. New companies, new models, new products every week. But he’s cautious about quick returns in legacy environments.

For telcos, this is particularly interesting. The industry often gets labeled as dumb pipes, but inference at scale won’t live only in distant clouds. To meet latency and cost goals, much of it must run on devices and at the edge – exactly where carriers already excel. “We may not build foundation models,” he notes, “but we will power the experiences that depend on them.” That’s a pretty smart way to position themselves in the AI value chain.

The prepaid revolution that changed everything

Vázquez gets genuinely excited telling the story of prepaid plans. Back in the mid-1990s, most Latin American customers couldn’t qualify for postpaid plans. Inspired by prepaid public phones in Europe, Carlos Slim challenged handset makers to enable prepaid on mobile devices. “We lowered the barrier to entry and unlocked the market,” Vázquez notes.

It was basically the Gillette model – inexpensive handles, recurring blades. Within eighteen months, the ecosystem came together and prepaid took off. He believes that shift explains much of global mobile penetration today, especially across emerging markets. América Móvil later bought TracFone in the US, grew it from tens of thousands to tens of millions of customers, then sold it to Verizon. That’s some serious execution.

The Slim philosophy in action

Working with Carlos Slim for decades has clearly shaped Vázquez’s approach. Frugality in good times and bad, discipline on expenses, and an ownership mindset. He describes a leader who asks detailed questions “not to micromanage, but to make sure you know your business.” And here’s something you don’t hear often – across three and a half decades, he’s made mistakes but has never been insulted for them. “Corrections are firm and respectful,” he emphasizes.

The organization sounds less hierarchical than many global peers, with Slim and now his son calling deep into the ranks to learn and push. Combine that with the family’s philanthropy through the Carlos Slim Foundation, and you get a sense of purpose beyond profit. For companies looking to understand this approach better, resources like the Forum on World Class IT offer valuable insights into building sustainable technology leadership.

So what’s the takeaway? Vázquez has lived the modern history of Latin American telecom, and his current mandate is to find what works in the market and plug it into one of the world’s largest networks. The matchmaker has plenty of dancing partners – the art is choosing the few that matter now and moving fast enough to turn possibility into performance. In an industry that’s constantly evolving, that pragmatic approach might just be their secret weapon.