Telefónica has reportedly approached AT&T regarding its Latin American pay-TV assets, which could also be attractive to Liberty Global following its acquisition of CWC.
Telefónica appears to be reviewing its Latin American assets more generally, with measures including a possible Mexican IPO and international tower sale.
Telefónica (MAD:TEF) has reportedly approached AT&T (NYSE:T) regarding the Latin American pay-TV assets it owns following last year’s acquisition of DirecTV.
The assets, which comprise satellite and cable businesses in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina, could be worth US$10bn, reported Reuters.
AT&T, whose CEO Randall Stephenson said in December that the US giant was open to selling the Latin American assets, has not yet selected a buyer, according to the report. Other suitors would reportedly look at businesses on a country by country basis, something AT&T has not ruled out.
Earlier this month, Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) CEO Mike Fries told the Citi 2016 Global Internet, Media and Telecoms Conference that his company was on the lookout for further Latin American telecom operators.
In November, Liberty made a £3.6bn (US$5.48bn) offer to acquire Caribbean quad-play group CWC (LSE:CWC). It also owns VTR in Chile, which had 2.7 million subscribers as of 30 September 2015, and Liberty Puerto Rico, which had 769,000 subscribers as of the same date.
Telefónica is in the meantime reviewing other aspects of its Latin American business, including a possible IPO in Mexico and sale of international towers assets.
Comparative regional figures
AT&T has a reported 19 million pay-TV subscribers in the region, and owns 93% of satellite provider Sky Brasil.
Telefónica does not provide a regional figure for pay-TV customers. In its results for the nine months ended September 2015, the operator listed numbers for Brazil (1.8 million – acquisition), Chile (641,000), Peru (1.1 million), Colombia (471,000), Venezuela (482,000), and none for either Argentina or Mexico.
By contrast, regional triple-play operator Columbus had 700,000 cable customers at the time of its sale to CWC last year, while Millicom (STO:MIC) had nearly three million cable customers as of 30 September 2015. The Swedish group was earlier this month reported to be considering a Mexican market entry, potentially via pay-TV.
América Móvil (NYSE:AMX), for its part, had 21.5 million pay-TV subscribers as of June 2015.
