Argentina: Clarín media group purchases Nextel

Clarín SA, Argentina’s largest media group, has announced the signing of a deal with American company NII Holdings, through which it has acquired 49% of Nextel Communications Argentina, while retaining an option to buy the remaining 51%.

Nextel Argentina is the country’s fourth largest mobile operator, with around 3% of the market since 1998. The deal comes as part of NII Holdings Chapter 11 restructuring, which has seen the American company sell assets in Mexico, Peru and Chile.

Grupo Clarin further announced that “this initiative fits our strategic framework, seeking to maintain our competitive edge in the telecomm sector and to develop our content distribution services… Nextel faced problems on its own, due to the advantages of local competitors with greater financial backing, better technology, more bandwidth and better services.”

Source: Clarín

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