Nicolas Girard, chief executive at OXIO, buying Telefónica’s business in Mexico, told RCR that the sale will take up to nine months, and the subsequent integration will take just four months.
In sum – what to know:
Defined timeline – Regulatory approval is expected within four-to-nine months, followed by a four-month subscriber migration phase.
Seamless transition – Migration will occur over the air without SIM replacement, minimizing disruption for over 20 million users.
AI-led model – OXIO aims to monetize intelligence and enable new services through AI-driven Telecom-as-a-Service architecture.
The acquisition of Movistar Mexico, owned by Spanish telco Telefonica, by a U.S.-led consortium is expected to move relatively quickly, with regulatory approval and integration timelines already defined.
According to OXIO CEO Nicolas Girard, who spoke to RCR Wireless News, the process is expected to unfold over the coming months. “Four-to-nine months of regulatory process followed by four months of subscriber migration,” Girard suggested, outlining the expected timeline for closing the transaction and integrating Movistar Mexico into OXIO’s platform.
The $450 million deal, led by OXIO and Newfoundland Capital Management, will see Movistar Mexico transition toward a cloud-native operating model powered by telecom-as-a-service. Despite the scale of the migration—affecting more than 20 million subscribers—the company expects minimal disruption during the transition.
He said: “This is a business-as-usual process that happens frequently in telecom. It’s an orchestrated and silent migration of batches of subscribers between the legacy network to the OXIO network,” Girard said. “It is performed over the air and does not require replacing SIM cards. The process will be led by an experienced team at OXIO that has done this multiple times before, including performing the migration of Tracfone to Verizon following the acquisition.”
Beyond the operational transition, the executive said that OXIO is positioning artificial intelligence as a central component of the new operating model. The company’s platform integrates AI-driven analytics and automation to optimize network performance and efficiency, Girard added.
“AI is at the core of everything we do. OXIO is an AI-first, cloud-native telecom-as-a-service platform and we’re leveraging AI technologies to optimize every aspect of operating a telecom network, which drives down marginal costs and improves performance drastically,” Girard said.
OXIO is seeking to reshape how telecom services are monetized by focusing on data and intelligence rather than traditional connectivity models. “OXIO’s model differs from what the market has seen before because it monetizes intelligence rather than access, which unlocks a number of opportunities that can drive financial and digital inclusion,” Girard said.
This approach is expected to open new partnership models and revenue streams, particularly in areas such as bundled services and digital distribution. “Telecom-as-a-service unlocks new physical and digital distribution opportunities, and we’re looking forward to bringing new experiences, bundles and collaborations to Movistar subscribers,” he added.
OXIO holds telecom licenses in both the United States and Mexico, and has operated as a licensed wholesale telecommunications provider in Mexico for five years. Movistar Mexico will continue operating under its existing brand and management team as the transition progresses.
Telefónica has been gradually exiting most international markets since 2019, focusing instead on its core operations in Brazil, Germany, Spain and the U.K. Telefonica’s chairman, Marc Murtra, previously noted that the company’s exit from Latin America, improves its position to undertake consolidation operations in the telecommunications sector in Europe, where three of its four main markets are concentrated.
