AT&T Bolsters Mobile Phone Market Position in Mexico With $1.9 Billion Nextel Purchase

AT&T continued its bold moves into the Mexican telephony market with the purchase of Nextel de Mexico for $1.875 billion.

The Jan. 26 announcement of the deal comes just days after the close of the AT&T purchase of Iusacell for $2.5 billion, which gave AT&T an initial 8 percent market share. The addition of Nextel will add another 3 percent, giving it the third-largest market share behind America Movil, owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, which currently holds about 70 percent of the mobile phone market, and Spanish-owned Telefonica, which has just under 20 percent market share.

The deal’s authors say ...