Telefónica to exit Mexico via 450 million dollar Movistar sale

Telefónica is exiting the Mexican market after 25 years following the authorization of its sale of Movistar Mexico by the Comisión Nacional Antimonopolio (CNA). The transaction is valued at 450 million dollars.

The buyer is Melisa Acquisition, a consortium composed of the technology company OXIO and the investment fund Newfoundland Capital Management. The agreement covers Telefónica’s entire stake in its Mexican subsidiaries, Pegaso PCS and Celular de Telefonía.

According to the CNA, the sale is unlikely to negatively impact economic competition within the sector. The companies have a six-month period to finalize the operation.

For Movistar’s approximately 20 million customers, services are expected to continue without immediate interruption. The buyer intends to maintain the Movistar brand initially and plans to progressively migrate operations to a cloud-based platform, functioning as a digital operator using third-party infrastructure.