Millicom bid $400 million to buy Telefónica's assets in Colombia. The overall operation would amount to $1 billion because in the same move it aims to buy the Colombian State's stakes in both Telefónica and Tigo UNE Colombia. With this deal Millicom will position itself as the second largest telecommunications group in the country, with a clear dominance in the fiber market, the fastest growing broadband technology. In mobile, the merger will close the gap with América Móvil, as competition in 5G begins. Colombia is the fourth largest market in Latin America in terms of both fixed broadband accesses and mobile lines. Millicom makes its bet in a convulsed context Millicom launched a proposal for the purchase of Telefónica's assets in Colombia, which include mobile, broadband and pay TV businesses. The operation is out of the holding company's historical purchase profile, focused on smaller scale operators in developing countries. The purchase will make Colombia its main market of operation, instead of Guatemala, and the operator will become the second largest communications group in the country, behind América Móvil. The proposed purchase comes in a context in which Millicom has several open fronts, so the move has some drama. Just a few weeks ago, the French group Atlas made a proposal of $ 4,000 million to take control of Millicom but was rejected by minority shareholders. This dispute promises to have new chapters and, perhaps, the bid for Telefónica Colombia is the first of them. At the local level, Millicom will also seek to separate itself from its local business partner, the state of Medellín, and put an end to a relationship that has a political side and that in recent years has become conflictive due to the liquefaction of the state's ownership due to the lack of capital contributions. The competitive environment in Colombia is somewhat depressed with very low ARPU levels that, for example, pushed Telefónica Colombia and Millicom to partner for the 5G spectrum auction and subsequent network deployment. The timing is critical with the main companies in the sector (except América Móvil) making losses and mobile operator WOM, in the midst of a financial reorganization process. Telefónica Colombia and TigoUNE would account for half of the Colombian fiber accesses America Movil’s company has been historically leading the Colombian Broadband market, still with 40% market share at Q4 2023. The combined entity Telefónica and Tigo UNE would catch up to Claro and rank 2nd with 39% market share in total fixed broadband accesses. America Movil’s transition from Cable internet to fiber has been slow. The company only accounts for 4% of fiber market shares. Meanwhile, over the last years, Telefónica has been the fastest growing company in Fiber...
