Mexican regulator--Telmex should get TV services

MEXICO CITY Aug 17 (Reuters) - Telmex, Mexico's leading fixed-line phone operator, should be granted the chance to offer television services, the head of the telecom regulator said on Tuesday.

"I think it is time to revise Telmex's concession ... there is no way around it," Cofetel President Mony de Swaan said in an interview with W Radio.

Such a move would help Telmex tap the market led by broadcast and cable affiliates of Grupo Televisa (TV.N) (TLVACPO.MX), the world's leading producer of Spanish-language TV content.

Telmex (TELMEXL.MX) TMX.N, controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, has for years been seeking approval to add television services to its offerings. The company controls 80 percent of Mexico's fixed phone lines and is also the leading provider of Internet service in Mexico.

The government has requested Telmex cut the rates it charges to other phone operators for using its massive transmission network as a condition for allowing Slim to move into television, but Telmex has said it has complied with such demands.

Television is seen as vital to Telmex's survival as the company loses business to smaller competitors offering cheaply bundled Internet, television and phone service.

Mexico's government has often quoted competition concerns as one of the main reasons behind its refusal to give Telmex the go-ahead for television services. (Reporting by Cyntia Barrera Diaz; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)