Carlos Slim: Build Housing and Broadband to Fuel Latam’s Future
November 17th, 2009Latin America needs to invest in housing and infrastructure to create employment and promote growth, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim said on Monday.
Talking on U.S. business television channel CNBC, Sim said the time is right to invest in real estate and housing in Mexico as well as in water treatment and alternative energy.
Slim, whose Latin American telecom empire has made him one of the world’s richest men, said he was looking to gain market share in Latin America with broadband services.
“Internet is the nervous system of the new society,” Slim said on CNBC.
He expects two-thirds of Latin America’s population to have access to the Internet in the next three years.
Asked about investments in the energy sector, Slim said there is lots of potential in deepwater and land-based oil drilling and so it is important for oil-producing countries like Mexico to increase investment in this sector.
Slim last year added to his oil drilling holdings with a stake in U.S. company Bronco Drilling, which has a contract to drill three wells for Mexican oil monopoly Pemex.
State-owned Pemex is betting billions of dollars on the onshore Chicontepec oil deposit near the Gulf of Mexico, but its complex geology means the oil is difficult to reach.
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