Telecom Argentina is required to divest 6 million mobile lines as a condition for completing its acquisition of Telefónica Móviles Argentina (TMA). The National Competition Authority (ANC) determined that, without the divestment, the transaction would reduce Argentina’s mobile market to two independent operators: Telecom, with around 58% of the market, and Claro (América Móvil), with 42%. To preserve a third nationwide competitor, Telecom will have to transfer 6 million active customers, along with the spectrum needed for the new operator to provide mobile services. Telecom has proposed Metrotel as the buyer of the package, which includes the customers as well as the associated assets and infrastructure. The transaction still needs to clear the relevant competition reviews. If the process moves forward without significant objections, the transfer could take place between Q4 2026 and Q1 2027, although there is no official closing date yet. The ANC has set an 18-month deadline for completing the divestment. Metrotel is controlled by Riverwood Capital Partners and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Advisors, two investment funds with experience in technology and infrastructure assets. The interesting question is not when those lines will change hands. Nor is it whether Metrotel can suddenly become a six-million-customer operator. It is whether the transaction will change anything beyond ownership of that customer base. Argentina’s mobile market has already been moving in a different direction. Since Q1 2025, Personal, Telecom’s mobile business, has reduced its subscriber base by nearly 2 million while significantly increasing revenue per customer. The addition of TMA has also brought Telecom’s scale to around 19.5 million TMA accesses, on top of Personal’s base. In Q2 2026, Telecom’s mobile ARPU, excluding TMA, reached ARS 11,772 (≈US$7.9) for the first half of the year, up 18.4% in real terms from a year earlier. TMA was considerably lower, at ARS 9,840 (≈US$6.6). Customer base size still matters, but the revenue it generates matters more than it used to. Claro, controlled by América Móvil, has also been raising its ARPU during 2026, while TMA is gaining weight in postpaid. Telecom still has the highest mobile ARPU. The 6 million lines it has to divest will not create new customers for the market: they are customers moving from one operator to another. What may change is what happens afterward. Metrotel could simply focus on retaining the transferred base, or use it to gain market share, expand postpaid, compete on pricing, or challenge the established operators for customers. That is one of the most delicate aspects of the transaction. Metrotel knows networks, but it has no comparable track record in the mass-market business. Its position has been built around the corporate segment and more than 8,000 kilometers of fiber, with businesses spanning connectivity, cloud,...
