Iusacell

Grupo Iusacell SAB de CV
Public
Industry Telecommunications
Founded 2000
Headquarters Mexico City, Mexico
Key people
 F. Thaddeus Arroyo[1] (CEO)
Products Wireless
Telephone
Internet
Revenue US$ 811.5 Million (2008)
Number of employees
 7,835
Parent AT&T, Inc. (100%)
Website www.iusacell.com.mx

Iusacell is Mexico's third largest wireless telecommunications company.[2] Grupo Iusacell also operates Unefón, which it merged with in 2007 and now serves as a subsidiary. It was announced on 7 November 2014 that the company would be acquired by U.S. telecommunications company AT&T.[3]

Services

The company provides cellular services reaching about 90% of Mexico's population, including Mexico City and received more licenses to cover the remaining regions in early 2005. It has more than 5.4 million subscribers (68.6% are prepaid). The company also offers local and long-distance telephony, messaging services, mobile television and wireless broadband services (BAM).

History

Verizon merged with (topramin cellular) Communications and Vodafone Group together acquired 74% of the company in 2001 from the Peralta family, which founded Iusacell in 1987. But following Iusacell's default on debts, the two companies in 2003 sold their stake to Ricardo Salinas Pliego's Movil@ccess in a deal valued at $7.4 billion.

Movil@ccess tender offer

In June 2003 a Movil@ccess (Movilaccess) of Grupo Salinas, extended a tender offer to purchase the control of Grupo Iusacell's stock, by the time Grupo Salinas already own a mobile phone company, Unefon, but the other major stock holder of Unefon, Grupo Sada, disagreed in the purchase of Iusacell because of the debt and low profit problems. The former controlling shareholders of Grupo Iusacell (BMV: CEL: Latibex: XCEL), Verizon and Vodafone, agreed to tender the entirety of their stock, which resulted in the acquisition of a majority interest by Grupo Salinas.

Merger with Unefon

In March 2007, Grupo Iusacell agreed to merge with Unefon Holdings, another company of Grupo Salinas. Unefon Holdings is the holding company owner of the capital stock of Unefon, wireless telephony operator focused on Mexico’s mass market. From the integration process, Grupo Iusacell remains as the merging company and Unefon Holdings as merged.

The new company was born with more than 3.4 million subscribers, equivalent to approximately 7% of the wireless telecommunications market in Mexico. The company has national coverage, and integrates the only two providers of wireless telecommunications services in the country using CDMA technology.

Grupo Iusacell, through its two brands, Iusacell and Unefon, was the first wireless cellular service provider in the country with a third-generation platform (3G CDMA EVDO) that gives users access to a wide range of other telecommunications services and multimedia applications, making the cell phone an efficient vehicle for data transmission and value added services besides voice.

On 15 November 2010 Iusacell launched their HSPA+ network with speeds up to 21 Mbit/s. Alike U.S. carrier T-Mobile US, also branded "4G."

Recent news

In September 2014, it was announced that Grupo Salinas would acquire Grupo Televisa’s 50 percent stake in Iusacell for a fee of $717 million.[4] On 8 January 2015, Grupo Televisa announced that the sale of its 50 percent stake had been completed.[5]

Iusacell under AT&T

In November 2014, AT&T announced it would acquire the Mexican wireless company Iusacell for US$2.5 billion from Grupo Salinas.[2] The price includes $800 million in debt.[2] Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T would acquire all of Iusacell wireless properties, including licenses, network assets, retail stores and approximately 8.6 million subscribers. The purchase was completed on 16 January 2015.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "AT&T Names Arroyo as CEO of Mexican Iusacell Mobile Unit". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "AT&T Buys Mexico Mobile Carrier Iusacell for $2.5 Billion". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  3. ↑ http://about.att.com/story/att_to_acquire_mexico_wireless_provider_iusacell.html
  4. ↑ Mexico's Salinas to buy Televisa Iusacell stake for $717 million. Reuters, 11 September 2014
  5. ↑ "Mexico's Televisa completes sale of its 50 pct stake in Iusacell". Reuters. Retrieved 9 January 2015.

Sources

External links