Many, many years ago I had a dream, a daydream, a fantasy; what can I do to not go unnoticed and to be able to leave my mark on the road I had to travel...? My first conviction was that I did not come to pass without leaving a trace; that was not my mission and I could not admit to being just another individual... my anguish and despair were to discover... how?
My anxiousness to make my way through guided me and pushed me, for the time being, not to be today the same as yesterday... tomorrow I could not step where I stepped yesterday and so on... I thought so, like an obsession; if I succeed, I am on the right path..., and I launched myself with that stereotyped dream in my skin.
I was lucky to know how to settle in the right time and place and let myself fall with all my youthful impetus. I was only 22 years old and I already had the responsibility of creating a television station to break a monopoly... I went to Cuba to learn how to work and how to create a television station... I spent three months at CMQ and CMBF, which were the two national networks that were way ahead of Mexican television, whom I would come up against... With that teaching and my notes, Channel 6 was created, the first television station of what later became TIM.
I was lucky to depended on the Board of Directors, whose President, fortunately, was Alejandro Garza Lagüera, and I say fortunately because in spite of three occasions in which I asked for my salary to be adjusted to the level of my responsibilities and results, it was not done and the Board, fortunately, also forgot to adjust my salary; (I received 4,500 pesos per month and the management team that I formed each received between 18,000 and 26,000 pesos per month, four or five times more than what I received), so one fine day, already married and tired of the injustice, I decided to retire and start my own business
I should point out that I didn't have a penny saved because I was newly married. Those years at the TV station were very useful because I learned a lot
But my goals were burned into my mind and in my skin... the creation of a unidirectional communication system in the same frequency, but of a personalized type, fluttered in my imagination. There was nothing like it... I ventured to design it: a system that, using the same frequency, could send messages selectively to thousands of users... it was a utopia, but achievable, my chimera was what later became known worldwide as Radio Beep.
I went to Mr. Pancho Cirilo, at that time director of the Banco Regional del Norte, and I told him that I had resigned from Channel 6 and that I was going on my own but that I needed a "little push" because my pockets were empty... he immediately authorized me a 90-day credit for 30,000 pesos and with that I started. On the 89th day I went and paid them and on the 91st day I went to ask for them again... so, with an unbelievable hustle, I managed to get out of my hardship, and I continued with the hustle, but in another dimension
I had, as every entrepreneur, ups and downs, but always with my mind and my eyes set on the horizon of success and prosperity of our project and our staff.
Radio Beep was a success from the beginning and we were the ones who created a new life for a multitude of sectors, including the family sector... the cell phone came at the end of the 80s and we continued to rise... then came the SMS, which were short messages through cell phones.
We anticipated the end of Radio Beep and we refocused on long distance telephony... and with the support of IXC of Austin Tex. We created Marcatel on July 7, 1994. It was a very severe period because the rules and conditions of the monopoly, supported by the Mexican State, made impossible the viability of the new companies that together with Marcatel had dared to confront the monopoly.
There were 14 of us fighters who dared to challenge the monopoly and within three years only three of those fighters survived... The rest either withdrew or allied with the competition or were sold; we acquired Protel and with this we achieved a redundancy of the fiber optic network.
We had some difficult moments, such as when our partner IXC decided to leave and put its shares up for sale. At a time when the credit we had obtained from Siemens of Germany was partially overdue, and they had demanded payment of the full balance because they saw no possibility that we alone, without partners, would be able to pay the outstanding balance. Siemens was very receptive and gave us a period of time to get our finances in order. We sold 40 % of the fiber we had left over and with the proceeds from this sale we paid off the Siemens loan in full after negotiating a partial waiver of the surcharges.
But it was not all plain sailing... our gaze on the horizon of prosperity never dimmed and we pursued it like a child chasing after a rainbow in the hope of reaching it. Thus, with that tenacity, we continued defending ourselves from the constant and diabolical attacks of the monopoly, against me personally and against Marcatel, until we leveled out and they understood that they would have to live with us. On one occasion they introduced in our calls an infernal recording that made them look ridiculous at an international level, after the intervention of the USTR of Washington, which I personally promoted, they had no other option but to remove it; when no Mexican authority was able to do so in spite of their and our efforts... At the end of this attack, the Judicial Power gave us the reason and condemned them to pay us an amount superior to 110 million pesos to compensate for the cost of the absurd trial in which we were bravely engaged for several years.
Now, with the ground more even, we see clearly that the path we set out for ourselves was passable... we are doing well and we continue with our decades-old intention of never again treading where we did before; always looking ahead and persistently searching to define the direction we should take in this fascinating and ever-changing world of telecommunications.
We have already achieved globalization and we feel certain that the path we are taking will take us to the Andean peaks we have always dreamed of.
We have never set foot again where we have been before; mistakes teach us a lot and those who learn from them never make the same mistake.
Now we plan for what we envisioned several decades ago: we have directed our efforts and projects that will surpass our existence and we plan to sail with our invincible boat to distances in time that exceed the next 200 years, with everyone on board
Let us continue rowing tirelessly with our maximum power and we will reach where we can hardly see in the search for our goal in the distant but attainable future.
I have left as faithful witnesses, hanging on the walls of my cloister where I have lived and resolved all these adversities and achievements, some pictures hanging on the walls as mute witnesses of the most difficult moments I have overcome, I invite you to come and see them.
Someday I will retire and leave my project in good hands and from there I will continue to observe your attitude and fulfillment to do what very few have achieved. The world is watching and judging us.
Good luck and long life.
Gustavo M. de la Garza Ortega
Founder and President
