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Mexican long-distance carrier and corporate communications provider Alestra SA said Wednesday it's looking to refinance $173 million this year in senior notes that mature in June 2010.

Chief Financial Officer Patricio de la Garza said at a press conference that the company is exploring all options, including a new debt issuance or a syndicated bank loan.

"What we are doing today is looking at which alternative is the most economically viable," he said. "We are also exploring the markets to see in what condition they are in."

Alestra has $213 million outstanding of the 2010 notes, and faces amortizations of $40 million this year. Alestra looked into refinancing the notes last year, but those plans were derailed by the global financial crisis, De la Garza said.

"Given the uncertainty in the markets, etc., the sooner we do it the better," he said. "We need to be ready as soon as possible to take advantage of a window of opportunity in the markets this year."

De la Garza said the company's debt coverage ratios should improve this year, with net debt to Ebitda falling to 1.7 times from 1.8.

Alestra, which is 51% owned by conglomerate Alfa SAB (ALFA.MX) and 49% by AT&T Inc. (T), has evolved from a pure long-distance carrier when it started operations in 1996 into a provider of telecommunications and IT services for large corporations.

Value-added services accounted for 63% of its 4.67 billion pesos ($314.3 million) in revenue last year, with the rest coming from long-distance telephony. Sales were down 8% from 2007, but operating cash flow rose 1% to MXN1.33 billion.

Alestra is a niche player in Mexico's fixed-line telecommunications industry, which is dominated by Telefonos de Mexico SAB (TMX). The former state monopoly, also known as Telmex, reported sales of MXN124.11 billion last year and had just under 17.6 million fixed phone lines in service at the end of December.

Alestra has increased its planned capital expenditures to MXN882 million this year from MXN786 million in 2008, but more than half will depend on customer demand, De la Garza said.

Alestra Chief Executive Rolando Zubiran said the company plans to eventually tap the small and medium-sized business market through WiMax, a wireless broadband technology.

"Today we don't have a solution that is competitive and efficient" for that market, he said.

The Federal Telecommunications Commission plans to auction wireless licenses, including radio frequencies that support WiMax, later this year with a view to boosting competition in the telecommunications sector.

Alestra has been testing pre-WiMax technology for about three years, but has yet to decide whether to deploy a WiMax network on its own or through a partnership with a third party, Zubiran added.

Because of its small size and attractive niche market, Alestra has frequently been the object of takeover rumors, with Mexico's No. 2 fixed-line operator Axtel SAB (AXTEL.MX)seen as the most likely buyer.

"The company is very attractive," Zubiran said, when asked if Alestra is up for sale. "We are a company that is in a very specialized segment,"

Axtel acquired one of Alestra's closest rivals, Avantel SA, in late 2006 for $516 million.

-By Ken Parks, Dow Jones Newswires, 52-55-5001-5723, ken.parks@dowjones.com