Telecom Argentina (parent company of Personal) acquires Telefónica Móviles Argentina (Movistar’s Argentine operations). Argentina’s antitrust authority ANC (formerly CNDC), together with communications regulator ENACOM, granted conditional approval. This merger will generate medium-to-long-term impacts on the local A2P SMS market.
The acquisition agreement was signed in February 2025. After consolidation, Personal and Movistar together hold 58.2% of the mobile subscriber market, while Claro accounts for 41.8%, which risks forming a duopoly. Regulators imposed mandatory structural remedies: the acquirer must divest a mobile subscriber base of 6 million users, together with corresponding spectrum, base stations and customer contracts. Of these users, 4 million are located in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area and 2 million in inland provinces. The transferee must be an independent entity and the asset package cannot be transferred to Claro. Market analysis points to potential candidates including new industry investors, foreign capital funds, and Telecentro, an existing MVNO operator.
Regulators also enforced mandatory operational firewall requirements. Until asset transfer is finalised, the networks, IT systems and corporate wholesale businesses of Personal and legacy Movistar must remain fully separated. The overall transfer window can extend up to 18–24 months. During the transition period, A2P short code approval, SMPP interfaces and tariff policies of the two operators stay independent, requiring separate commercial contracts.
From a market perspective, the ultimate buyer of the 6-million-user asset package is yet to be confirmed and implementation remains uncertain, though Telecentro stands out as a favoured candidate. Upon completion of the divestiture, Argentina’s mobile operator landscape will be reshaped, indirectly affecting A2P SMS channel supply and pricing.
