Telecom Argentina agrees to sell Metrotel 6 million mobile lines for $450 million — The Rio Times
In Argentina, Telecom Argentina has agreed to sell Metrotel a package including at least 6 million mobile lines, home internet subscribers, and part of its network assets. The offer is worth $450 million plus VAT, with payments to be made in installments. Telecom Argentina’s board of directors accepted the offer on October 14, 2026, The Rio Times reports.
Terms of the asset transfer
The buyer will be CPS Comunicaciones, which operates under the Metrotel brand. The company is to receive at least 6 million mobile lines, 4 million of which are in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The package will also include 211,400 home internet subscribers in 28 localities in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Neuquén, and Río Negro.
Metrotel is also to receive rights to use radio frequency spectrum, key elements of the Movistar network, and rights to fiber-to-the-home infrastructure in the city of Buenos Aires. Under the framework agreement, the companies will jointly use radio networks, roaming, towers, and other passive infrastructure. Telecom Argentina will provide transitional services and license the Tuenti brand in Argentina to Metrotel.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Condition imposed by the antitrust authority
The sale became a condition for approval of the acquisition of the Argentine unit of Spain’s Telefónica, which operates under the Movistar brand. Telecom Argentina acquired Telefónica Móviles Argentina on February 24, 2025, for $1.245 billion. Following the acquisition, two of the country’s three major mobile operators came under Telecom Argentina’s control, while Claro, owned by Mexico’s América Móvil, remained the main competitor.
On June 17, 2026, Argentina’s antitrust tribunal approved the acquisition on the condition that some subscribers, spectrum, and network assets be transferred to an independent buyer. The final contracts and infrastructure-sharing agreements are still to be signed. Communications regulator Enacom must also authorize the transfer of radio frequency spectrum.
Change of Metrotel’s owners
Until now, Metrotel had sold fiber-optic connections to corporate clients and other operators through a network extending more than 8,000 km. The deal brings it into the consumer mobile communications market under the Tuenti brand. U.S. investment funds Blackstone and Riverwood Capital, which have owned Metrotel since 2017, are selling the company to new Argentine and U.S. investors.
