America Movil said on Thursday its U.S. subsidiary Tracfone Wireless completed its purchase of Start Wireless Group’s assets.
The deal, for an undisclosed price, was first announced in May.
Start Wireless has about 1.4 million subscribers, America Movil said in a statement.
Meanwhile, America Movil’s promoter Carlos Slim has agreed to consolidate his company and family equity stakes in Telekom Austria, clarifying his position in the eyes of regulators that monitor when stakeholdings become large enough to trigger takeover bids, Reuters reported.
Slim’s America Movil will own 26.8 percent of Telekom Austria after buying a 3.14 percent stake from a family foundation, enough to veto big decisions at the Austrian firm but below the 30-percent mandatory takeover offer threshold.
Carso Telecom, America Movil’s European holding company, will hold the entire 26.8 percent stake that was previously split with the family foundation.
The Austrian government owns 28 percent of the former state telecoms provider and has said it is committed to maintaining a blocking minority of at least 25 percent.
According to another Reuters report, a judge has ordered Carlos Slim’s fixed-line phone company Telmex to stop divesting assets, which rivals and analysts believe is part of a strategy that could allow him to circumvent regulation.
Analysts believe Telmex is spinning off a unit that holds assets such as fiber optic and telephone poles to get them off the books of Telmex parent America Movil.
Once the assets are outside of America Movil, they could be factored out of regulation that might force Slim to give up some of the power he wields in the local phone market, they say.
America Movil has around 70 percent of the mobile market and 80 percent of the fixed line business in Mexico. Weakening the company’s hold on the market was one of the principal aims of a sweeping telecom reform the government passed in June.
