AT&T Sells Mexico Business for $2 Billion, Reshaping Mobile Market in Mexico

With AT&T and Telef ó nica selling their businesses in Mexico, the Mexican mobile market is expected to undergo significant changes next year.

AT&T has agreed to sell its Mexico business, AT&T Mexico, to a consortium consisting of Mexican cable and broadcasting company Grupo Televisa and investment company Fintech Holdings for $2 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027, but regulatory approval is still required.

After operating in the Mexican market for over a decade, divesting its Mexican business will allow AT&T to concentrate its capital investment on building fiber optic and 5G networks in the United States.

As of the end of June this year, AT&T Mexico is the second largest mobile operator in Mexico with 23.4 million users.

This transaction follows the long-awaited sale of Movistar in Mexico by Telef ó nica, which was announced in April 2026. This Spanish operator is selling its Mexico business for $450 million to a consortium led by Oxio and Newfoundland Capital Management, providers of the “Telekom-as-a-Service” platform. According to El Economista, the transaction crossed a regulatory barrier earlier this month and received approval from Mexico’s National Antitrust Commission, but it has not yet been finalized.

Movistar is the third largest mobile operator in Mexico, with 21.7 million customers and a market share of approximately 16.6% by the end of 2025.

New challenger

After this round of mergers and acquisitions, América Móvil, Mexico’s largest telecommunications operator, will still maintain its dominant position, but its competitors’ morale has greatly increased with the support of its new owner, and the size of one of its competitors will also significantly expand. Telcel, a mobile brand under América Móvil, is far ahead of its other two competitors with 84.5 million users as of the end of June this year.

Televisa is the largest cable television operator in Mexico and provides satellite pay TV services through Sky. In 2024, Televisa acquired the remaining shares of Sky that it did not yet hold from AT&T. According to Reuters, Televisa is still the world’s largest producer of Spanish language content. The acquisition of AT&T Mexico will add a wireless user base to its business portfolio.

According to Reuters, a research report by Scotiabank described the AT&T Mexico deal as a “bargain” for Televisa, which will make it a bigger player in the telecommunications industry and increase its market share in fixed and wireless users from 8% to 19%. The research report states that the low transaction price and involvement of Fintech are “bad news” for Am é rica M ó vil, as “the new owner can invest more resources into capital expenditures,” as reported by Reuters.

Televisa will hold a 50% stake in the company that will take over AT&T Mexico.

At the same time, Movistar’s new owner plans to use Oxio’s data monetization mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model to introduce a different competitive approach. Since reaching a wholesale access agreement with AT&T Mexico in 2019, Movistar has effectively become an MVNO and has its own core network. The company has migrated its mobile business traffic to AT&T’s network, returned its spectrum license, and closed its wireless access sites.

AT&T entered the Mexican market in 2015 by acquiring Iusacell and subsequently acquiring Nextel Mexico. According to Bloomberg, AT&T has been pushing forward with the sale of these assets since August last year. Last December, AT&T reportedly approached a deal with Televisa.

AT&T and Grupo Televisa have previously had mergers and acquisitions. This US operator sold its minority stake in Sky Mexico to Televisa in 2024.

In a statement regarding this transaction, AT&T stated, “We believe that these partners are fully capable of leading AT&T Mexico into the next phase of growth. Grupo Televisa has a strong operational presence in Mexico with its fixed broadband business, while Fintech Holdings brings in new funding, local experience, and operational expertise in the wireless sector in Mexico. “

For AT&T, CEO John Stankey stated that this move is “in line with our long-term strategy of focusing capital allocation on growth opportunities in the dynamic US market.