Last week, the management team of the Luxembourg group landed in national territory to make the last presentations before Juan Vicente Martín Fontelles, president and CEO of Movistar Chile, and Rodrigo Jara, CFO of the telco.
In that instance, the offer – the content of which is kept confidential for now – would have been substantially more attractive, to the extent that it would allow Telefónica to complete its departure from the country within a limited period.
Previously, The process had a first round of sale, in which América Móvil (Claro’s parent company), Entel, Paradise Mobile, Beyond One and Millicom participated. However, two major stumbling blocks emerged: on the one hand, the high degree of overlap between the incumbent operators, which hinders authorizations by free competition entities; and, on the other, the high labor liabilities of Movistar Chile, a factor that led several interested parties to desist from presenting more aggressive offers.
According to two sources linked to potential buyers, about a third of the company’s workers in the country maintain old contracts, which include unlimited compensation and labor benefits significantly higher than the market average. They estimate that this workload of the local subsidiary of the Spanish company reaches around US$ 400 million.
Among those who had these generous benefits were the historic executives of the Telefónica Chile group. Last December, Francisco Ceresuela, who was part of the close circle of Roberto Muñoz (former CEO), and Fernando Saiz (former Corporate Affairs Manager), left the company. some of the few of those former leaders who remained at the firm. Now, the last bastion is Rodrigo Jara, current CFO, who has been in the company for 18 years and accompanies Martín Fontelles in the divestment process.
In this new and second opportunity, Telefónica sought to improve its position, after the initial offers were considerably lower than expected, considering that the company maintains liabilities of around US$ 1.2 billion, in addition to a contract for US$ 450 million with ZTE for future infrastructure surveys.
Along these lines, the company announced the transfer of its subsidiary Infraco – which owns a 40% stake in the wholesaler Onnet – to reduce its debt and make the operation more attractive for potential buyers.
In this round, América Móvil gave up presenting a new offer. Entel He considered continuing alone, although high sources rule out that the firm linked to the Matte and Hurtado Vicuña has continued participating in the process.
Finally, Paradise Mobile and Millicom continued in negotiations. Along the way, El Mercurio revealed that WOM would have also submitted an offer for US$1,000, but its status as the incumbent operator would be working against it in the final evaluation.
The industry expects that the agreement will be finalized in the coming days, before the end of February. Sources in the sector indicate that Millicom would have asked Telefónica to reduce labor liabilities through a series of separations as a condition for the purchase of its operations. The negotiation is in its final hours and is not closed yet, but as of today the Luxembourg group is one signature away from taking everything.
The strongest market for Millicom is Latin America, where the company of Swedish origin and based in Luxembourg has been taking firm steps in its consolidation since the end of the last decade, particularly through the renowned Tigo brand.
It all started in 2019 when The firm set its sights on Telefónica and bought its operations in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in a transaction for US$ 1,650 million. operation that forged the relationship with the Spanish giant and that led them to close more deals last year.
In Telefónica’s exodus from Latin America, Millicom is the company that has retained the most assets of the Spanish giant in the region: Colombia, Uruguay and Ecuador. These are the three markets that Millicom added to its portfolio in 2025 after purchasing the operations from the Hispanic group.
First it was Colombia. On March 12 of last year, the companies signed a definitive agreement for US$ 400 million with which Millicom acquired Telefónica’s 67.5% controlling stake in Coltel (which operates Movistar), which would allow the Luxembourg company to double its mobile business in the coffee territory.
On May 21 of the same year, Millicom also bought 100% of Movistar Uruguay for US$ 440 million and, less than a month later, on June 13, both telecommunications companies announced a definitive agreement for the purchase and sale of Movistar in Ecuador for an additional US$ 380 million.
It is worth remembering that last November the president of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, during the presentation of the company’s strategic plan for 2026-2030, detailed that the company will abandon all of Latin America, which in addition to Chile involves Mexico and Venezuela, the assets of Telefónica Hispam.
