QUITO: Ecuador has fined a telecoms firm owned by Mexican magnate Carlos Slim for allegedly engaging in unfair competition, officials said Sunday.

The Ecuadoran markets monitor SCPM issued a decision Friday to fine Conecel, part of the Mexican giant America Movil, 10 percent of its 2012 sales.

The fine followed an investigation by the National Telecommunications Board. In October 2012, it said Conecel was abusing its local market dominance.

Conecel, which controls 67 percent of the market, has rejected the charges.

But Ecuador claims it is acting illegally by pressuring and having exclusive business ties to people who own land used by broadcast towers.

Slim for many years was listed by Forbes as the wealthiest man in the world.