Mexican telcos Alestra and Axtel are potentially interested in acquiring assets from America Movil (AMX).
Last week the incumbent announced its intention to bring its share of the fixed-line market down from 80% to less than 50% through disposals. The…
Mexican telcos Alestra and Axtel are potentially interested in acquiring assets from America Movil (AMX).
Last week the incumbent announced its intention to bring its share of the fixed-line market down from 80% to less than 50% through disposals. The decision followed the government’s reforms to telecoms legislation aimed at spurring competition.
Had AMX not volunteered to shrink its telecoms operations it would have faced harsh regulations and the possibility of the regulator stripping it of assets.
The president of Alestra, an enterprise operator offering fixed-line and IT services, told La Jornada that his company is open to opportunities. Rolando Zubiran said Alestra would explore the range of assets AMX makes available.
Meanwhile Axtel’s legal director, Ermilo Vazquez, said the fixed-line player would wait to see what AMX was offering before deciding its position, but said it planned to analyse the opportunity.
In contrast the newspaper also quoted Francisco Gil Diaz, the president of Telefonica’s Mexican unit, as saying that his company was unlikely to purchase assets.
AMX will need to divest around 20 million mobile customers and four million fixed-line subscribers and its billionaire owner Carlos Slim has signalled a preference to sell to a single buyer, preferably a well-capitalised player from abroad.
However, should an international mobile operator decide to buy-up the assets it may decide to pass on the fixed-line assets, allowing them to be picked up by Mexico’s smaller telcos.
AMX will spin-off its passive infrastructure into a separate company, although Slim has said that it has no intention of selling its towers. The hived-off business will look to increase the amount of tenants on each tower.
Slim has said that it is looking to offload assets within the next six months.
