Televisa, Fintech aim for Mexico's second-largest mobile spot

Grupo Televisa, one of Mexico's largest fixed broadband and pay TV operators, and US-based investment fund Fintech Advisory Inc., have announced they intend to buy AT&T Inc.'s operations in the Latin American country for $2.0 billion, opening the way for the partnership to become the second largest operator on the nation's mobile market.

The operation could deliver Televisa 23.4 million mobile customers to add to its millions of broadband and pay TV subscribers, and further consolidate the company's place in Mexico's telecommunications market, where it competes with market leader América Móvil.

AT&T acknowledged the offer in a press release, adding that the transaction "sharpens AT&T's focus and capital allocation on building the strongest network in the United States through continued investments in fiber and 5G."

The 50/50 acquisition will be funded by the two companies via a combination of cash and secured financing totaling $1.4 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to conditions, including regulatory approval.

This is the second major acquisition in the Mexican mobile telecommunications market in 2026, after Melisa Acquisitions, a consortium formed by OXIO Corp and Newfoundland Capital Management, agreed to purchase the local operations of Spain's Telefónica in April, for an estimated $450 million.

AT&T’ Mexican unit, which started operations in the country in 2015, served 16.9% of the Mexican mobile market at the end of 2025, with 24.5 million subscribers. The company is one of two full-blown mobile network operators (MNOs) in Mexico, along with market leader América Móvil, which ended 2025 with 84.7 million subscribers, or around 57% of the market. In the second quarter of 2026, the business generated $1.224 billion in revenue but only $38 million in operating income, a roughly 3.1% operating margin.

Telefónica had been operating in the country as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) since 2019, after returning its spectrum to the authorities. The company had been using AT&T's network to offer its services in the country to over 20 million subscribers.

Televisa's challenge into mobile

Televisa is Mexico's second-largest provider of residential fixed broadband internet, via its Izzi and Sky Mexico units, comprising around 21.4% of the local market as of 2025, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence estimates, also behind America Movil's Teléfonos de México SAV de CV unit, with 37% of the market.

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Izzi has been operating as an MVNO in the Mexican mobile market via Izzi Móvil, which uses both America Movil and AT&T's infrastructure to offer its services, as well as that of state-owned carrier-of-carriers ALTÁN Redes. That operation hovered around 662,491 mobile customers (including accounts affiliated with both Izzi and satellite pay TV unit Sky Mexico) at the end of 2025, or under 0.5% of the mobile market.

Televisa has made a point of focusing on telecommunications. In 2021, it merged its content business into TelevisaUnivision Inc., in a $4.8 billion transaction aimed at focusing on pay TV and fixed broadband services in the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world.

New York-based Fintech Advisory is also no stranger to the Latin American telecommunications. The company, through one of its units, owns 31% of Telecom Argentina SA, one of the South American country's largest telecommunications operators, using the brand "Personal" for its mobile unit.