At the close of 2024, the three main mobile telecommunications companies in Mexico generated a total of 358 billion 45 million pesos in revenue, representing a modest increase of 4% compared to the previous year. This figure marked the lowest growth since the Covid-19 pandemic, during which companies like América Móvil, AT&T, and Telefónica Movistar experienced significant growth due to the increasing need for connectivity from both businesses and end users.
The slower growth of traditional mobile operators was affected by the pressure exerted throughout the year by Mobile Virtual Operators (MVNOs) such as Bait, Mega Móvil, MexFon, and Diri, among other 130 companies operating through the Altán Redes Shared Network. Telefónica Movistar was one of the traditional operators most affected, registering a decline of 5.2% in its service revenue and a reduction of 29.3% in equipment sales revenue until the last quarter of 2024.
On the other hand, Telcel, owned by Carlos Slim, reported revenues of 332 billion 24 million pesos, with a yearly increase of just 2.3%. Despite the slight growth in revenue, Telcel continued its trend of user decline by 1.2%, mainly due to the lack of a successful strategy to increase high-consumption postpaid and prepaid subscriptions. In contrast, AT&T proved to be the least affected by the slowdown in the telecommunications market in Mexico, achieving revenues of 19 billion 105 million pesos by the close of 2024, a 4.3% annual increase.
According to Carlos Hernández, analysis director at the consultancy The CIU, "AT&T has not experienced significant changes in the past year and has had the best performance among traditional operators. It continued to show positive results with a 3.7% increase in service revenue and a significant growth of 11.8% in equipment revenue, thanks to strategies like financing and subsidies to reduce disconnections."
Regarding MVNOs, the aggressive competition they offer in internet and mobile data tariffs significantly impacted traditional mobile operators. It is estimated that during the previous year, eight out of 10 new acquisitions in the mobile telecommunications segment were absorbed by MVNOs, allowing them to grow by 59.7% in the number of prepaid and postpaid subscriptions. This situation led MVNOs to position themselves for the first time in third place in the mobile market, with a share of 14.9%.
In the fixed telecommunications sector in Mexico, the joint investments of Izzi Telecom, Megacable, Telmex, and TotalPlay in 2024 totaled 38 billion 449 million pesos, representing only a 0.7% increase compared to the previous year. This data reflects a slowdown compared to the highest investment in the last five years in 2020. The decline in investments is partly due to a decrease of 4.8% in pay television revenue, as users canceled their services on average after 5.8 months of contracting. This trend could continue into 2025 according to projections from the consultancy The CIU.
