AT&T furthers its Mexican ambitions as Nextel acquisition completes

As various telecoms mega deals trudge through torturous scrutiny prior to their eventual completion, or sometimes not, AT&T has been quietly expanding its North American empire into Mexico.

Scott Bicheno

May 1, 2015

1 Min Read
AT&T furthers its Mexican ambitions as Nextel acquisition completes

As various telecoms mega deals trudge through torturous scrutiny prior to their eventual completion, or sometimes not, AT&T has been quietly expanding its North American empire into Mexico.

AT&T completed the acquisition of Iusacell at the start of this year and has now completed the acquisition of fellow Mexican operator Nextel for a net price of $1.45 billion. The two will now form part of an expanded ‘North American service area’ for AT&T, which possibly hints at further acquisitions in the continent.

Ovum’s WCIS service says Iusacell had 8% of total Mexican mobile subscribers by the end of 2014, while Nextel had 3%. AT&T will combine the two companies, but hasn’t given it a name yet. With 11% of the market AT&T Mexico will still trail Movistar on 21% of subscribers and dominant Telcel, still has a 68% share in spite of regulatory pressure to get that number below 50%.

“Mexico is the second-largest economy in Latin America and has a growing middle class. This economic strength, combined with Mexico’s close geographic, economic and cultural ties to the U.S., make it an attractive place for AT&T to invest,” said AT&T in its announcement.

About the Author

Scott Bicheno

As the Editorial Director of Telecoms.com, Scott oversees all editorial activity on the site and also manages the Telecoms.com Intelligence arm, which focuses on analysis and bespoke content.
Scott has been covering the mobile phone and broader technology industries for over ten years. Prior to Telecoms.com Scott was the primary smartphone specialist at industry analyst Strategy Analytics’. Before that Scott was a technology journalist, covering the PC and telecoms sectors from a business perspective.
Follow him @scottbicheno

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