Two companies in the Grupo Iusacell mobile operator group have put forward restructuring proposals to a federal judge, according to the head of Mexico’s Federal Institute of Bankruptcy Specialists (IFECOM).
Gricelda Nieblas told TelecomFinance that these…
Two companies in the Grupo Iusacell mobile operator group have put forward restructuring proposals to a federal judge, according to the head of Mexico’s Federal Institute of Bankruptcy Specialists (IFECOM).
Gricelda Nieblas told TelecomFinance that these two parts of Iusacell were facing financial difficulties and wanted stability in the long term. To this end, they had raised restructuring proposals that had been accepted by creditors.
Nieblas did not name the businesses in question.
Although this procedure comes under the Bankruptcy Act, Nieblas said that the company was not being taken into bankruptcy.
A district judge is currently considering the proposal.
Grupo Iusacell is part of Grupo Salinas, an eclectic collection of companies, including telcos, financial services providers and retail companies. The CEO of Grupo Salinas is the billionaire Ricardo Salinas.
Iusacell has been in the news over the last few months for its criticism of the Mexican telecom regulator’s sale of a spectrum licence to Nextel/Televisa in August for a relatively low bid.
The sale was seen as an attempt to inject more competition into the Mexican telecoms market.
Iusacell was disqualified from the auction for failing to comply with some of the bidding rules.
Grupo Iusacell merged with Unefon Holdings, another company in Grupo Salinas, in March 2007. The company had 3.4 million customers, around 7% of the Mexican market at the time, but it is reported to have struggled since then against the competition of Telefonica and America Movil.
Neither Grupo Iusacell nor Grupo Salinas replied to invitations to comment.
