Millicom commits another US$350mn to Central America

Luxembourg-based telco Millicom has pledged to invest an additional US$350mn by 2025 to expand and maintain its fixed and mobile broadband networks in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

This sum comes in addition to the US$700mn investments that the Latin America-focused company announced last year in the three countries for 2023-24.

The investment commitment was made in response to a call from the White House for companies to invest in northern Central America to help curb emigration from the region.

Guatemala is one of Millicom's main markets in Latin America, generating some US$340mn in revenues during 3Q22, which was 26% of the group's total revenues. 

Millicom has been strengthening its operations in Guatemala. In 2021, it disbursed over US$2bn to acquire the remaining 45% stake in the Tigo Guatemala joint venture and a year later launched 5G, becoming the first operator to offer the new mobile technology in Central America.

In its latest results report, for July-September 2022, Millicom reported that revenues in the country dipped 0.5% year-on-year to US$340mn, while Ebitda was down 2.6% to US$208mn.

The company also stated that it is investing to maintain its market share in Guatemala. The firm's strongest growth in the country was in services to the home and B2B.

Meanwhile, both Honduras and El Salvador performed well for Millicom in the quarter. El Salvador saw revenues climb 6.0% to US$105mn, or 8% of the group's total revenues in the period, while Honduras produced a 2.2% hike to US$137mn.

Ebitda was also up in both countries, rising 3.9% to US$40mn in El Salvador and 3.5% to US$64mn in Honduras.

Also in Central America, the firm's subsidiary Tigo Panamá recently announced a US$100mn investment in fiber optics and to modernize its mobile networks.

Tigo will cover around 90,000 homes with fiber optics during 2023 in Puerto Armuelles (Chiriquí), the city of Colón, Panama City, the north of Penomé, the Azuero region and San Miguelito, according to news agency ANPanamá.