América Móvil is ready to sell its telecom infrastructure along the east coast of Mexico, according to Bloomberg, and AT&T is on the short list of buyers. The Mexican communications conglomerate, controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, is being forced to divest by new Mexican telecom regulations designed to foster competition by preventing concentration of assets. América Móvil has an estimated 70% of Mexico’s wireless subscribers and 80% of its landlines.
AT&T has long been viewed as a potential buyer for these assets. The carrier was América Móvil’s partner in Latin America for years, but recently agreed to sell its stake in that company to Carlos Slim. That sale was also motivated by regulatory concerns. AT&T is trying to buy DirecTV, which competes with América Móvil in the satellite TV market in Mexico.
However, AT&T could get right back into the Mexican telecom market by buying assets outright. This would not impact the DirecTV deal, since AT&T would be buying telecom and wireless assets, not satellite TV assets. It could, however, give AT&T a chance to bundle TV with telecom offerings in Mexico.
DirecTV owns part of Mexico’s biggest pay TV provider, Sky Mexico. If AT&T gets back into wireless in Mexico, the carrier may be able to offer the same bundled services in Mexico that it envisions for the United States. Here in the United States, AT&T wants to offer wireless service and satellite TV in one package, once it completes its planned purchase of DirecTV.
Today’s report says that the assets América Móvil wants to sell are worth up to $17.5 billion, and that the company is also talking to Softbank, Bell Canada and China Mobile. China Mobile has said in the past that it wants to look at acquisitions outside China.
América Móvil has not formally announced a plan to sell these assets. The company has said that it would like to spin off its cell towers into a separate company. So if a sale of telecom assets is imminent, it may include network operations and subscribers rather than towers.
Follow me on Twitter
Image source: yyyahuuu / 123RF Stock Photo
