Telecom Argentina’s board accepted Metrotel’s offer of US$450 million for about 6 million Movistar mobile customers and roughly 200,000 fixed-internet users, the company told the securities regulator, the CNV, on Wednesday.
The sale is a condition of the merger. The competition authority ordered Telecom to hand the customers, plus radio spectrum, to an independent buyer so that Argentina keeps three mobile competitors. Without the sale, Personal (33.8% of the market, by the government’s count) and Movistar (24.4%) would together hold 58%, against 42% for Claro. The authority approved Metrotel as the buyer on September 4.
For the customers affected, the move starts in the coming days and will be gradual, Telecom sources said. Customers will first get a message from Movistar and then one from Tuenti, the brand Metrotel will use under a license from Telecom. Tuenti was Telefónica’s prepaid mobile brand. Telecom must give Metrotel access to the Movistar network through network-sharing, roaming and shared-site agreements for at least three years, renewable until Metrotel has its own network, which keeps service running during the transition.
The price covers customers, spectrum rights, the core of the network, the fiber-to-the-home network Telecom built in the city of Buenos Aires, and a guaranteed minimum payment under the network-sharing agreement, according to the filing. It is paid in installments and excludes value-added tax.
Metrotel is a Buenos Aires fiber and data-center company that mainly serves businesses. El Cronista reported that its revenue was about US$55 million in 2025, a fraction of the price it is paying. Its ownership changed last week: Nippur Fiber Holdings, led by financiers Luis María Blaquier and Sebastián Caputo, bought 51%, and Beacon, whose main individual shareholder is US telecom investor Ralph Booth, took 49%, replacing Blackstone and Riverwood Capital. Sebastián Bardengo remains chief executive.
Telecom and Metrotel must now file the final agreement with the competition authority, a formal step. The transfer of customers, systems and spectrum is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
