AT&T has closed its acquisition of NII Holdings’ Nextel Mexico business for USD 1.875 billion after the deal was approved by Mexico’s telecom regulator IFT and the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which is overseeing the restructuring of NII Holdings. The acquisition excludes around USD 427 million of net debt and other adjustments. The deal marks AT&T’s second purchase of a Mexican mobile operator this year following its January acquisition of Iusacell for USD 2.5 billion. AT&T acquired all the companies operating under the name Nextel, including spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and subscribers, and the company said it will now integrate Iusacell and Nextel into a single operator.
In addition, AT&T confirmed plans to create what it described as the first-ever North American mobile service area, which will cover more than 400 million customers and businesses in Mexico and the US. Thaddeus Arroyo, current CEO for AT&T Mexico, LLC and Iusacell, will lead the combined company.
Nextel has around 3 million customers and a network covering some 76 million people. The operator controls 25 megahertz of spectrum in the 800 MHz band and 30 megahertz in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band.
