Mexico declares last bidder Altan winner of wholesale mobile network deal

• After a few years of delay, Mexico has elected to award the contract for a huge wholesale mobile network to the Altan group, a consortium that will need to create a multibillion-dollar operation to cover 85% of the population (and the only remaining bidder).
• The network was originally planned as part of telecom reforms firmly targeting the dominance in-country of Carlos Slim's America Movil (NYSE:AMX).
• It's set up to build a 20-year public-private partnership (Mexico is helping out with costs) to develop a nationwide 4G LTE network that others would rent, though mobile operators (AMX -1%, TEF +0.9%, T +1%) are reticent.
• The Altan group is backed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure and the World Bank's International Finance Corp., and includes Alfa unit Axtel and Mexico's Megacable.
• The group is planning to surpass requirements by covering 92.2% of the Mexican population within seven years.
• Previously: Mexico launching wholesale mobile network tender (Jan. 29 2016)