Overview
- Telefónica Hispanoamérica, which announced Tuesday that it would sell 100% of Pegaso PCS and Celular de Telefonía, agreed to a $450 million firm value deal with Melisa Acquisition.
- Melisa Acquisition is led by cloud telecom platform OXIO and investor Newfoundland Capital and plans to keep the Movistar brand and current leadership while moving operations onto OXIO’s Telecom-as-a-Service platform.
- The transaction transfers roughly 21.7 million mobile lines, and Movistar says service will continue without changes to numbers, plans or coverage during the transition.
- Closing requires clearance from Mexican telecom and competition regulators and standard purchase price adjustments before control changes hands.
- The sale advances Telefónica’s exit from parts of Latin America after it returned spectrum and shifted to AT&T’s network in Mexico, where low average revenue per user and fast-growing MVNOs squeezed results, and the $450 million price sits below recent reports of a $600 million ask.