AT&T will collect $2 billion in cash for AT&T Mexico, selling the country's second-largest mobile operator to a consortium of Grupo Televisa and Fintech Holdings and walking away after more than a decade in the market. The deal, announced this week, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.

The Mexican mobile market won't look the same next year. This sale follows Telefónica's April agreement to offload Movistar Mexico for $450 million to a consortium led by telecom-as-a-service platform Oxio and Newfoundland Capital Management — two exits inside eight months.

How big is what's changing hands?

AT&T Mexico carries 23.4 million subscribers as of the end of June, while Movistar sits third with 21.7 million customers and roughly 16.6% market share at the end of 2025. América Móvil's Telcel barely notices either of them in the rear-view mirror: 84.5 million customers at the end of June.

Movistar's transaction cleared a hurdle earlier this month when Mexico's National Antitrust Commission gave its approval, though the deal hasn't been finalized, El Economista reported. Regulation, in this case, appears in a hurry.

For AT&T, the exit frees capital for fiber and 5G buildout in the US. CEO John Stankey called the sale "consistent with our long-term strategy to focus our capital allocation on opportunities for growth in the vibrant U.S. market." Vibrant, presumably, in a way Mexico was not.

Is Televisa getting a bargain?

Scotiabank thinks so. A research note cited by Reuters described the deal as a "bargain" for Televisa, lifting its combined share of fixed and wireless customers from 8% to 19% and making it a materially bigger telecoms player.

The note also flagged the price as "bad news" for América Móvil, because "the new owners can focus more resources in capex." Cheaper entry means more money left over to fight with.

Televisa will hold 50% of the acquiring company. The cable giant already knows the terrain: it's Mexico's largest cable operator, runs satellite pay TV via Sky, and bought out AT&T's minority stake in Sky Mexico in 2024. Reuters notes it's also the world's largest producer of Spanish-language content. Now it adds a wireless base to the pile.

AT&T's statement was diplomatic about the buyers: "We believe that these partners are well positioned to lead AT&T Mexico through its next phase of growth. Grupo Televisa has a strong operating presence in Mexico with its fixed-line broadband business, and Fintech Holdings brings fresh capital, local knowledge, and operational expertise in the Mexican wireless sector."

What's the backstory?

AT&T arrived in Mexico in 2015, buying Iusacell and later Nextel Mexico. Bloomberg reported it had been working on a sale since August last year, with a Televisa deal reportedly close in December. Some exits take longer than others.

Movistar's new owners plan to apply Oxio's data-monetizing MVNO model — a different way to compete, at least on paper. In practice, Movistar is nearly an MVNO already. Since striking a wholesale access deal with AT&T Mexico in 2019, it has migrated its traffic onto AT&T's network, handed back its spectrum licenses and switched off its radio access sites. Whoever buys a network in Mexico should note: one of these two businesses doesn't really own one.

Who's left standing?

América Móvil stays dominant, but faces two rivals with new owners and, in Televisa's case, considerably more scale than either challenger managed alone. The US carrier, meanwhile, redirects its checkbook toward domestic fiber and 5G — and waits until Q1 2027 for the ink to dry.