Colombia Telecomunicaciones said that the closing of the operation will take place in the second half of this year.
The Board of Directors of Movistar Colombia (Colombia Telecomunicaciones SA) informed the Financial Superintendency that it authorized the legal representative of the company to carry out all the necessary actions to carry out the acquisition of the internet business of DirecTV Colombia LTDA.
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Hours later, the firm signed a contract that includes obligations, declarations and terms of usual indemnity and in market conditions for the transaction. “The closing of the operation is expected to take place in the second half of the year, once the authorizations have been issued by the corresponding authorities,” Movistar clarified.
DirecTV offers internet service in Colombia since 2014. It currently has more than 200,000 clients, although only 40% of them exclusively contracted the navigation service, for the others it is included in a package together with subscription television and the platform of DirecTV GO streaming digital content.
So far no further details of the transaction or its amount are known, but it is believed that it would include the network and spectrum, which means that although Movistar was out of business in 2019 when the spectrum was auctioned, it would have found another way to enter, as it could be done at 70 MhH of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, according to the portal evaluamos.com.
Movistar estimates that in 2020 the use of its fixed network increased by 98% and the mobile data consumption of its customers grew by 87%.
“This agreement ratifies the company’s commitment to the country and will allow us, on the one hand, to continue consolidating our presence in the national market with the acquisition of internet infrastructure, it strengthens our operation by having additional spectrum that supports the growth of the mobile data traffic that we have been observing in recent months, especially after the start of the pandemic, ”said Fabián Hernández, CEO of Telefónica Movistar in a statement.
For his part, the president of DirecTV, Mariano Díaz de Vivar, assured that the decision is part of a strategy to focus on one business line: “Digital transformation is revolutionizing telecommunications and audiovisual services to the point that customers are changing their consumption habits and the way they relate to their environment. By concentrating on the generation and distribution of content, we will be able to focus on delivering the best content options to the market with services that are simple to use when and how they want to respond to consumer needs ”.
The companies stated that the agreement determines that customers will not experience changes in the services contracted with Directv and / or their rates, as well as in the billing processes or service channels. After the division, current clients will maintain their television plan with Directv, while Movistar assumes the Internet access service.
