BAIT, Walmart's MVNO in Mexico, is very close to becoming the country's second-largest mobile operator. At the end of 2024, it surpassed Movistar (Telefónica) and, due to its greater growth momentum, is expected to surpass AT&T in Q3 2025. Furthermore, this acquisition will enable it to become the seventh-largest mobile operator in the region. This robustness has positioned BAIT as a potential buyer of one of Mexico's mobile networks. As of Q2 2025, BAIT had 22.5 million lines and was by far the largest MVNO in the world. Despite this impressive volume, it had an ARPU of close to $2, between 3 and 5 times less than its competitors. The low revenues could be explained by BAIT functioning primarily as a powerful marketing tool. But BAIT's low revenues also raised questions about the actual number of active lines. If that volume were inflated, as its competitors believe, it would push down the average revenue. Another fact: BAIT recently launched higher-value postpaid plans in Q2 2025. BAIT operates on Altán's wholesale network, which has not yet had a clear evolution to 5G. Meanwhile, Movistar is up for sale. Although acquiring Movistar seems like a perfect match, it does not solve BAIT’s problem of network dependency.. The Telefónica subsidiary did not have spectrum and operated on AT&T. Therefore, AT&T could be a more interesting asset, although it is believed to cost $2 billion, up to three times more than Movistar.
