--- title: "AT&T sells Mexican wireless to Televisa and Fintech Holdings for $2 billion after a $10 billion decade" description: "Televisa and Fintech Holdings are buying AT&T's Mexican wireless business for $2 billion, a price one bank calls a bargain and another counts as foregone cash. The exit is really a bet on US fiber, the layer AI traffic runs on." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Deals" published: 2026-10-16T21:23:32.559Z modified: 2026-10-16T21:23:32.559Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/at-t-sells-mexican-wireless-to-televisa-and-fintech-holdings-for-2-billion-after-a-10-billion-decade language: en keywords: "Telecom, AT&T, Mexico, Fiber, AI Infrastructure" --- # AT&T sells Mexican wireless to Televisa and Fintech Holdings for $2 billion after a $10 billion decade > Televisa and Fintech Holdings are buying AT&T's Mexican wireless business for $2 billion, a price one bank calls a bargain and another counts as foregone cash. The exit is really a bet on US fiber, the layer AI traffic runs on. [AT&T](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/at-and-t) agreed on October 13 to sell AT&T Mexico to Grupo Televisa, Mexico's biggest broadcaster, and Fintech Holdings, the investment firm of Mexican billionaire David Martínez, [for $2 billion plus contingent payments](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/att-to-sell-att-mexico-to-grupo-televisa-and-fintech-holdings-302907590.html) [1]. The two banks that priced the deal reached opposite verdicts, and both hold. Scotiabank calls the price a bargain that should lift Televisa's share of Mexico's fixed and wireless subscribers from 8 percent to roughly 19 percent [2][4]. BNP Paribas puts the cash AT&T is giving up near $500 million a year [3]. The gap between those readings is the signal: a mobile network pays for an owner with home broadband and television to bundle it with, and drags on an owner with neither. ## Ten years and $10 billion bought second place AT&T entered Mexico in 2014 through the Iusacell and Nextel Mexico acquisitions and has since put more than $10 billion into the country across deals, a national 4G build and legacy network shutdowns [3]. The result is a second-place carrier stuck behind Telcel, Carlos Slim's América Móvil operator, which holds roughly six in ten Mexican mobile lines [2][3]. The business changing hands is shrinking, not steady: 23.4 million subscribers at mid-2026, down from 24.7 million at the end of 2025 [2]. Telefónica, the Spanish operator, quit more cheaply this year, [selling Movistar Mexico for $450 million](https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/att-sells-mexico-wireless-biz-grupo-televisa-and-fintech-holdings-2b) [3]. The unit earned 1.4 billion pesos of operating income on 85.4 billion pesos of 2025 revenue, roughly a 1.6 percent margin [4]. *Chart: **What AT&T put into Mexico, and what it took out** Bar chart comparing AT&T's cash outlays on its Mexico business, 4G expansion $3 billion, Iusacell $2.5 billion, Nextel Mexico $1.9 billion, against the $2 billion sale price agreed in October 2026.* *Disclosed cash outlays for AT&T's Mexico business since 2014, against the October 13, 2026, sale price, in billions of US dollars; total invested since entry exceeds $10 billion. Sources: Fierce Network; AT&T. [1][3]* ## The money now chases US fiber Chairman John Stankey named the chain himself: the AI future, he says, "will run on converged networks with dense fiber assets" [1]. A week before the sale, AT&T [merged its two fiber joint ventures into one wholesale company](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/at-amp-t-global-infrastructure-partners-and-cpp-investments-to-form-new-fiber-joint-venture-881469284.html), half owned by [BlackRock](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/blackrock)'s Global Infrastructure Partners and Canada's CPP Investments, behind a buildout of more than 60 million US fiber locations by the end of 2030, the connections AI traffic runs on [5][6]. The contested ground is the home market, not Mexico. On October 8 [SpaceX](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/spacex) agreed to buy Grain Management's nationwide low-band spectrum [for a reported $8 billion, pending federal approval](https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/tech-companies/spacex-could-capture-13-of-us-wireless-market-by-2036-pivotal-says/ar-AA2e5ewf), a step toward making Starlink a major US mobile carrier [7][8]. The next day AT&T, [Verizon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/verizon) and T-Mobile [lost more than $50 billion of combined market value](https://theinference.org/article/musk-s-phone-plan-is-not-viable-says-the-ceo-whose-price-target-just-got-cut) [8]. AT&T's answer is convergence, selling fiber and wireless together, and that answer costs capital. ## The first test lands on October 21 AT&T reports third-quarter results on October 21, when its quarterly SEC filing will reclassify Mexico as held-for-sale, an asset classed as awaiting a buyer [1][2]. Holders need the simplification to arrive as cash: BNP puts the net cost of the exit near $400 million a year once interest savings count [3]. The 2027 guidance this threatens promises at least $19 billion of free cash flow [3]. AT&T [generated $19.4 billion of free cash flow in 2025](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000732717), so the guide largely asks the company to hold last year's level while shedding cash [9]. In Mexico the gap falls to Televisa, whose izzi broadband and Sky television finally get a mobile network to bundle, with Fintech Holdings owning the other half pending Mexican regulatory approval toward a first-quarter 2027 close [1][4]. *Chart: **The 2027 guide asks AT&T to hold its 2025 free cash flow** Column chart of AT&T annual free cash flow from 2020 to 2025 and 2027 guidance: $28.4 billion, $26.4 billion, $12.4 billion, $20.5 billion, $18.5 billion, $19.4 billion, then a guidance bar of at least $19 billion.* *AT&T free cash flow by fiscal year, in billions of US dollars, computed from its SEC filings; the 2022 drop reflects the WarnerMedia and DirecTV spinoffs. The 2027 bar is company guidance of at least $19 billion (estimate). Sources: AT&T annual figures from SEC filings; Fierce Network. [10][3]* ## Televisa gets the margin, AT&T the question The unit's 18,000 employees were told operations continue unchanged until then [2]. Televisa and Fintech get the bundling margin. AT&T holders get the cash question, and AT&T took the harder job, proving that focus converts to cash. ## Takeaway Televisa and Fintech Holdings pay $2 billion for the bundle AT&T never had, while AT&T trades roughly $500 million a year of Mexican wireless cash for a US fiber build it says the AI era runs on. ## Sources 1. [AT&T via PR Newswire, "AT&T to Sell AT&T Mexico to Grupo Televisa and Fintech Holdings", 13 October 2026](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/att-to-sell-att-mexico-to-grupo-televisa-and-fintech-holdings-302907590.html) 2. [Latin Times, "Why Televisa's $2 Billion AT&T Mexico Buy Is a Direct Threat to Carlos Slim's Dominance", 15 October 2026](https://www.latintimes.com/why-televisas-2-billion-t-mexico-buy-direct-threat-carlos-slims-dominance-600204) 3. [Fierce Network, "AT&T sells Mexico wireless biz to Grupo Televisa and Fintech Holdings for $2B", 15 October 2026](https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/att-sells-mexico-wireless-biz-grupo-televisa-and-fintech-holdings-2b) 4. [TTV News, "Grupo Televisa and Fintech to Acquire AT&T Mexico for US$2 Billion", 14 October 2026](https://todotvnews.com/en/grupo-televisa-and-fintech-to-acquire-att-mexico-for-us2-billion/) 5. [AT&T via CNW, "AT&T, Global Infrastructure Partners, and CPP Investments to Form New Fiber Joint Venture", 6 October 2026](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/at-amp-t-global-infrastructure-partners-and-cpp-investments-to-form-new-fiber-joint-venture-881469284.html) 6. [DatacenterDynamics, "AT&T to combine Forged Fiber 37, Gigapower into one JV", 7 October 2026](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/att-to-combine-forged-fiber-37-gigapower-into-one-jv/) 7. [Seeking Alpha via MSN, "SpaceX could capture 13% of US wireless market by 2036, Pivotal says", 12 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/tech-companies/spacex-could-capture-13-of-us-wireless-market-by-2036-pivotal-says/ar-AA2e5ewf) 8. [Moneywise via Yahoo Finance, "Elon Musk vs America's Big 3 phone giants: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile down $50B. Will Starlink slash your wireless bill?", 16 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/elon-musk-vs-america-big-111500320.html) 9. [AT&T, annual figures from its SEC filings (free cash flow FY2025: $19.4 billion), retrieved 16 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000732717) 10. [AT&T, annual figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 16 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000732717) --- AT&T sells Mexican wireless to Televisa and Fintech Holdings for $2 billion after a $10 billion decade — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/at-t-sells-mexican-wireless-to-televisa-and-fintech-holdings-for-2-billion-after-a-10-billion-decade