Corporate Policy in Mexico During the Porfirian Age. The Telephone Companies, 1881-1905

In Mexico City, in the heyday of the Porfirio Díaz’s regime (1877-1911), a telephone system was developed by a private carrier, whose parent company was American Bell Telephone Company, which grew into a privately owned monopoly that served a clientele made up mostly of businessmen and government institutions. This essay tries to explain the company’s corporate policies to grow and profit in this incipient market, as well of the municipal council to regulate its operations till 1903, when its administrative powers were taken away by the federal government.