AT&T may consider acquiring Nextel’s Brazilian operations, after purchasing its Mexican unit last month, according to multiple reports.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson will reportedly travel to Brazil next week, along with other senior executives, to meet…
AT&T may consider acquiring Nextel’s Brazilian operations, after purchasing its Mexican unit last month, according to multiple reports.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson will reportedly travel to Brazil next week, along with other senior executives, to meet Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. There they will discuss with her and others the potential for local investment, including M&A.
According to the reports, Nextel Brazil, a unit of bankrupt NII Holdings, would be the most likely target, although local analysts believe the US carrier could also eye Telecom Italia-owned TIM Brasil, which lacks its own fixed network, or Oi, which is amidst a debt-reducing turnaround strategy.
AT&T and Oi declined to comment, while NII Holdings and TIM did not respond to requests for comment.
During the visit, the operator is also likely to discuss the potential purchase of 2.5 GHz and 700 MHz spectrum in an auction to be held later this year.
The company is still awaiting regulatory approval for its US$48.5bn takeover of pan-American satellite operator DirecTV, which controls Sky in Brazil.
AT&T is reportedly expected to accept the FCC’s new net neutrality rules to get the deal cleared.
Having acquired third-largest player Iusacell for US$2.5bn in January and agreeing to purchase Nextel Mexico for US$1.875bn a few weeks later, the US telco is planning to merge the two into a single company. In this way it will bring “more choices, better services and faster mobile internet speeds to more locations throughout Mexico”.
The telco plans to create the first ‘North American Mobile Service area’ covering more than 400 million customers and businesses in the US and Mexico.
