AT&T to Buy Nextel Mexico for $1.88 Billion

By Michael Calia 

AT&T Inc. said Monday that it has reached a deal with NII Holdings Inc. to buy Nextel Mexico for about $1.88 billion, the telecom giant's latest big step into the Mexican market.

The acquisition will give AT&T a network that covers about 76 million people in the Mexican wireless market. The company plans to integrate Nextel Mexico with Iusacell, which AT&T agreed to buy late last year in a deal valued at $2.5 billion at the time.

The deal for Nextel Mexico also includes all of NII Holdings' wireless properties in the country, including network assets, retail stores, three million subscribers and spectrum licenses.

AT&T said it expects the deal to close in the middle of the year. It is subject to a bankruptcy auction and approvals by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, which is overseeing NII Holdings' restructuring.

Mexican regulators must also approve the deal.

The move comes as AT&T is also awaiting regulatory approval for its $48.5 billion deal for satellite-television provider DirecTV

Write to Michael Calia at [e-mail]

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