AT&T has agreed to buy its
second carrier in Mexico, a few months after purchasing
Iusacell. The pending acquisition of Nextel Mexico from NII Holdings will cost AT&T $1.875 billion, minus any outstanding debt, with the purchase giving AT&T a considerable foothold in the Mexican wireless market, and expanding its reach further outside the United States.
Just as with the
recently-closed Iusacell acquisition, AT&T will acquire wireless properties including spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores, and approximately 3 million subscribers. The deal is expected to complete sometime in the summer, pending regulatory approval from the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, as well as that of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which is currently overseeing the restructuring of NII Holidings, a company that filed for bankruptcy last September.
Once complete, AT&T's plan is to combine Iusacell and Nextel Mexico to expand the coverage of both services, with the Nextel purchase expected to help with coverage outside of the major metropolitan areas. At the moment, Nextel covers around 76 million people, with Iusacell doing the same for approximately 84 million, with the combined subscriber count for the two carriers of over 12 million.
The ultimate aim is for AT&T to create what it calls the "first-ever North American Mobile Service area covering over 400 million consumers and businesses in Mexico and the United States."
Top