UPDATE 3-Ecuador to buy America Movil local unit assets
(Updates with America Movil statement paragraph 7)
By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO, April 30 (Reuters) - Ecuador will buy America Movil's (AMXL.MX) local assets after stripping the telecommunications giant of its operating concession in a move by the leftist government to exert more control over the economy.
Top telecommunications regulator Jaime Guerrero said the government will seek a foreign operator to run America Movil's (AMX.N) concession, which expires in late August.
"We want competition in the sector," Guerrero told reporters in Quito. He added that the Mexican company will not be allowed to participate in any future bid to regain its concession.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, a leftist ally of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, has worried investors with his aggressive drive to rework multi-billion dollar foreign oil, mining and telecommunication deals.
"There are no foreign operators to run the concession. It will either be a state-merger or companies from Venezuela or China," said Wally Swain, a telecom analyst with Yankee Group in Colombia. "They have to be prepared to deal with a terribly uncertain regulatory situation."
Ecuador rejected America Movil's final economic offer to renew its deal late on Tuesday, saying it did not fulfil the state's expectations.
America Movil, the country's largest mobile operator, said in a statement from Mexico City that it had been notified of the rejection of its offer and the end of negotiations.
The company said it had made several offers to renew its concession. Ecuador says it wants the company to pay the state around $480 million for the concession and improve services to clients.
A company executive in Ecuador said America Movil had offered $307 million for the concession.
Spain's Telefonica (TEF.MC) has already reached an agreement with Ecuador to renew its deal for 15 years.
America Movil and Telefonica are the two largest mobile operators in Latin America and have long fought for supremacy in the region.
Together, the companies control 95 percent of Ecuador's market of more than 10 million subscribers, though the country represents a small part of both their overall subscriber bases. (Additional reporting by Tomas Sarmiento in Mexico City; Editing by Louise Heavens)
