Telefónica may do business with Mexico's Red Compartida

The Mexican unit of Telefónica is studying going into business with the Red Compartida wholesale mobile network launched earlier this year, the Spain-based company said in a statement.

Telefónica, which operates in the region under the brand Movistar, said that it signed a reference offer with Red Compartida operator Altán Redes to "examine possible collaboration schemes between both companies."

"Movistar seeks to expand, through diverse mechanisms, its coverage across the Mexican Republic and to keep getting closer to the users," it added.

Telefónica is one of Mexico's main providers of wholesale capacity to MVNOs such as Virgin Mobile. Earlier this month, the telco acquired 40MHz of bandwidth on the 2.5GHz band to provide high speed mobile coverage in the country.

Telefónica's new spectrum concession comes with coverage obligations for at least 200 population centers with 1,000 to 5,000 inhabitants, which the company can fulfill either by building its own infrastructure or by purchasing capacity from another telecoms operator.

Red Compartida, which has the exclusive use of the coveted 700MHz spectrum band, has an obligation to reach at least 92.2% of Mexico's population by 2024. Telefónica is the third largest concession holder of spectrum in the country with around 17% of the total, behind AT&T and América Móvil and ahead of Altán.

Altán Redes has said it is not interested in entering the retail market.

Megacable, one of Mexico's largest triple-play providers, also said it was in talks with the Red Compartida – which currently covers around 36mn out of Mexico's 120mn residents – to add mobile phones to its offer.