America Movil Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
April 30, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • In Q1, 2.4 million net postpaid subscribers were added (led by Brazil’s 987k), while the fixed-broadband base grew by 446k, driven by Mexico and Brazil.
  • First-quarter revenue rose 14.1% YoY in MXN terms and adjusted EBITDA climbed 13.3%, with service revenue up 15.8% (constant FX: service +6.1%, EBITDA +4.0%).
  • Economic headwinds in Mexico—slowing consumption, elevated real rates and election/tariff uncertainty—drove a 2.2% YoY decline in prepaid ARPU and net prepaid losses of ~1 million clients.
  • Net income surged 38% to MXN 18.7 billion (MXN 0.31/share), with net debt at 1.5× LTM EBITDA; capital expenditures forecasted at MXN 6.7 billion, below prior year.
  • Ongoing regulatory and legislative proposals in Mexico concerning new telecom and competition laws could affect spectrum allocations and market dominance.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
America Movil Q1 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good morning. My name is Nadia, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the América Móvil First Quarter 2025 Conference Call and Webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers are marked, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw a question, please press star followed by two. Now, I will turn the call over to Ms. Daniela Lecuona, Head of Investor Relations.

Daniela Lecuona
Head of Investor Relations and Chief Sustainability Officer at América Móvil

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our First Quarter 2025 financial and operating results. We have on the line Mr. Daniel Hajj Aboumrad, CEO, Mr. Carlos García Moreno, CFO, and Mr. Oscar Von Hauske, COO.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Thank you, Daniela. Welcome, everyone, to the first quarter of 2025 financial and operating report. Carlos is going to make a summary of the results. Thank you.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

Thank you, Daniela. Good morning, everyone. The first quarter of the year began with interest rates surging ahead, continuing the trend from early December, as the markets grew increasingly concerned with inflation on signs of a much stronger economy than had been expected. However, as inflation numbers came in within expectations, and new payroll figures weakened, 10-year Treasury Yields came down by a remarkable 60 basis points from mid-January to the quarter at 4.20%. In the period, most currencies in our region of operations appreciated versus the US dollar, but not the Mexican peso, which remained almost flat over the quarter, as the uncertainty over potential new tariffs by the US weighed on it. In the quarter, the US dollar lost 7.3% versus the Brazilian real, 4.9% versus the Colombian peso, 4.4% versus the Chilean peso, and 4.2% versus the euro.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

Now, the Mexican economy has been slowing down since April of last year, with the index of economic activity reaching 0% in February of this year. Private consumption, as you can see in the slide that we are showing, has plummeted and is now declining 1% year on year on the back of uncertainty around the Mexican and then the U.S. election, increasing real rates of interest as inflation declined but rates stayed put, and the decline of economic activity made worse by a significant tightening of public expenditures. As you can see, there has been really a vertical drop in private consumption in Mexico over the last several months to a point that is now negative. In the first quarter, we added 2.4 million postpaid wireless, with Brazil leading the way with 987,000 clients, followed by Colombia with 163,000 and Mexico with 133,000.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

In the prepaid segment, we posted 1 million net prepaid losses as both Mexico and Brazil disconnected clients at 131,000 and 545,000, respectively, while Argentina added 230,000 subs and Colombia added 134,000 subs. Prepaid disconnections were limited to Brazil and Mexico. In the fixed-line segment, we connected 446,000 new broadband accesses. Mexico was the main contributor with 165,000 clients, followed by Brazil with 98,000 and Central America with 52,000. Both lines and pay-TV units fell by 130,000 and 32,000, respectively. Mobile postpaid and fixed broadband were the main drivers of growth of our client base, increasing by 6.1% and 4.3%, respectively. Again, you can see this in this slide. Our first quarter revenue was up 14.1% year on year in Mexican peso terms to MXN 232 billion, with service revenue expanding 15.8% and adjusted EBITDA 13.3%.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

The latter figures partly reflect the year-over-year appreciation of most currencies versus the Mexican peso, particularly the Colombian and Chilean pesos, which were up 18% and 14% versus the Mexican peso. The dollar, which was up 17.7%, and the euro up 14.1%, again versus the peso. That essentially means that, with the exception really of Brazil, all other international operations of América Móvil were worth more in Mexican peso terms. At constant exchange rates, when we adjust for these exchange rate movements, service revenue increased 6.1% and adjusted EBITDA 4.0%, adjusting for sales and overseas by Telmex a year before. Most of our operations saw their EBITDA margins increase sequentially. Wireless service revenue climbed 5.7%, decelerating some part from the prior quarter, as prepaid revenue continued to slow down mostly on account of weaker economic activity in Mexico as we've seen before.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

Postpaid revenue growth remained fairly stable across the board and actually accelerated slightly to 8.8% when our Chilean operation is included. On the fixed-line platform, service revenue growth came in at 6.7%, with corporate net revenue appearing to slow down. This effect had mostly to do with the fact that in the year-earlier quarter, that line item had had a very strong showing. You can see this again in the slide. Broadband revenue growth maintained its pace at 9.8%, while that of pay-TV came in at 8.7%, the fastest pace seen in many quarters, reflecting, on the one hand, incorporation of Chile, but also better growth in Central America and Austria and Eastern Europe. We are seeing less of a drag in Brazil, where, although growth is still negative, the rate of decline has slowed.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

The Central American and Eastern European blocs were top performers in the period, exhibiting faster service revenue growth in both the fixed and the wireless platforms than they had had the preceding quarter. Our first quarter operating profit totaled MXN 44.8 billion, a 10% year-on-year increase as the depreciation and amortization charges that were up 16%, which partly reflects the incorporation of our Chilean operation. With our comprehensive financing costs decreasing slightly from the year-earlier quarter, our net income was up 38% to MXN 18.7 billion and was equivalent to MXN 31 per share, $30 per ADR. Our net debt end of March stood at MXN 500 billion, not including capitalized lease obligations. It was equivalent to 1.5 times last 12 months' EBITDA.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

In cash flow terms, our net debt increased MXN 11 billion in the quarter, and it helped us fund capital expenditures in the amount of MXN 25 billion, share buybacks of MXN 4 billion, and MXN 7 billion in labor obligations. That is the summary, and I will pass the floor back to Daniel so that we can begin the Q&A session. Thank you all.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Thank you, Carlos. We can start with the Q&A session.

Operator

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. The first question goes to Leonardo Olmos of UBS. Leonardo, please go ahead.

Leonardo Olmos
Leonardo Olmos
Executive Director at UBS

Hi, everyone. Good morning. My question is going to be centered on regulation and laws in Mexico. I think what we're seeing now is unprecedented, maybe for many, many years. If you could first discuss the new telecommunications law or legislation that could impact the spectrum distribution and what your positioning on it, potentially regarding spectrum to competitors, to new competitors. Second, if what the Trump administration is proposing on the Liberation Day, if there is any type of impact for Mexico, because there was a document that by that date they released mentioning that they were concerned, the U.S. government was concerned about high concentration of market share in telecommunications in Mexico, if that could be a concern to you. Thank you.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Oh, thank you. As you know and everybody knows, Congress is currently discussing the proposals made by President Sheinbaum regarding the new telecommunication law and some changes in the competition law. Those are right now discussing in the Congress. We are monitoring closely both proposals and providing comments and views to the Congress people, okay? That is what we have now. We do not have anything else. Everybody knows what the proposals have. I am agreeing on what you are saying about the spectrum. We are giving our views, and we can discuss that in more detail when both laws have been enacted, okay? Right now, nothing to say. The laws are there. Everybody is discussing. We are giving our points of view, and that is all. I think in the next two months, as the President said, they are going to be enacted. That is what we have right now.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

On the other side, I don't exactly understand what you said about President Trump, but if you're saying about the competition and dominance and all of that, that will be included in these laws, and these laws have been discussing right now. Another important issue, and we put it in front of the first page of our results, is the market share that we have in fixed broadband and TV. We have 27%, and Telcel has 55%. That does not include the CPE that has also some subscribers. I think we are discussing that. We think that we are not the dominant player anymore, and the laws have to show that. That's mainly what we have been discussing.

Leonardo Olmos
Leonardo Olmos
Executive Director at UBS

Crystal clear. Thank you very much. Have a good day.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Thank you.

Operator

The next question goes to Walter Piecyk of LightShed. Walter, please go ahead.

Walter Piecyk
General Partner and TMT Analyst at LightShed

Thanks. I think you just addressed the impact of tariffs potentially on handsets. How do you expect to, if anything, have that impact your business? Can you hear me? Sorry.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

The tariffs in Mexico, no changes on tariff on handsets right now in Mexico and Latin America. I do not know if we can have something in the future. At this moment, even it has been a little bit better because the exchange rate has come in a little bit down, and those are we buy everything in dollars. In Mexico, let's say, price of handsets has been better. At this moment, we do not have anything on tariffs, and we do not expect anything on tariffs for the next months.

Walter Piecyk
General Partner and TMT Analyst at LightShed

Yeah, sorry. I was going to continue just kind of noting perhaps the trade deficit that exists between Mexico and China, and if there's anything, perhaps given everything that's happening in the world and how manufacturing can move to different locations, whether that could extend in terms of Mexico's relationship with China.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

I think there's big discussions on that, on the trade deficit, trade deficit in the U.S., trade deficit in Mexico with China. It is going to be very difficult to understand what is going to happen in the future, but I think that Mexico will have a very good, in my view, a good probability that there will be every day manufacturing more and more in Mexico to go to the U.S., manufacturing more with Mexicans and doing things in Mexico, not importing from other countries and then exporting to the U.S. I think that's going to change a little bit. If we produce here, I think Mexico will have a good opportunity to grow. I think all these discussions and what is happening in the world, I hope that will be benefit for Mexico.

Walter Piecyk
General Partner and TMT Analyst at LightShed

Thanks. Carlos also obviously mentioned, and we've seen the results, the impact of some of the economic issues in terms of consumer demand, I guess, in Mexico. I mean, you guys have both been there a very long time, and obviously, Carlos is very involved in Mexico in general, even before América Móvil. Just curious kind of your thoughts on timeline and how long you think that this will progress through your numbers, how deep of a dip, how soon of a recovery, I suppose.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

Hi. I think what I was saying before is we had, let's say, an extraordinary situation last year, second half of last year, because of the confluence of many events. One was the elections in Mexico, which always lead to a slowdown in economic activity for the month after the election and the beginning of the new administration. That's a historical pattern. We had also the elections in the U.S., but this time was probably more eventful than probably has been expected in some other times. We had, as I mentioned, very high and increasing real rates of interest because policy rates were constant, but inflation was declining rapidly. The real rates of interest were going up, and that obviously had an impact on overall spending, both consumption and investment.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

To make things somehow worse to some extent in terms of economic activity in the short term, the new administration came in with a clear commitment to put order in public finances, which meant reducing the fiscal deficit. This they have been doing with a lot of zeal. We have seen the numbers through February this year, and they are doing better than budget. You have a primary surplus that has increased significantly, not compared to last year, but even to two years before. The financial deficit is even lower after inflation terms this year than it was two years ago, not to mention last year. Our view is that these effects, all these three effects that I have mentioned, are going away. Obviously, the elections have happened, and the uncertainty around the tariffs, I think, will be clearing relatively soon.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

Real policy rates are coming down in Mexico. They have been coming down, and we expect them to continue to come down. Real rates of interest are now beginning to go down. We expect that the government will be in a position, the second half of the year, to be a bit more forthcoming with their expenditures. I think that our current expectation is that we are seeing the bottom right now, this first quarter, and that we would expect to see this is probably the bottom, and we can expect to see a recovery of sorts the second half of the year.

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

If there's a lot of people that believe that the USMCA agreement may be negotiated early, as early as this year, to the extent that's the case, I think that it will provide an additional boost to the economy, as Daniel Hajj Aboumrad was saying. Yeah, we think we're quite positive on our expectations for the second half of the year. I think we're seeing the bottom.

Walter Piecyk
General Partner and TMT Analyst at LightShed

That's very helpful, Carlos. Thank you also, Daniel. Appreciate it.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Thank you.

Walter Piecyk
General Partner and TMT Analyst at LightShed

Thank you all.

Operator

The next question goes to Marcelo Santos of JPMorgan. Marcelo, please go ahead.

Marcelo Santos
Marcelo Santos
Senior Sell-side Equity Analyst at JPMorgan

Hi, good morning, Daniel, Carlos, Oscar, Daniela. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two. The first is regarding Mexican prepaid. I understand in the release you attributed the weakness mostly to the economy, but I would like to see if you could discuss a bit the competitive angle. We are seeing some MVNOs growing very aggressively in prepaid. Do you think this is affecting? What could you discuss of the competitive angle on prepaid in Mexico? The second question is regarding the appetite of América Móvil for M&A in the region. There are some players that are divesting some assets, and we want to know what do you think about that. Thank you very much.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Let's talk about Mexico. First, I want to—we already talked a little bit about broadband and postpaid. I think in Mexico, we have a very good month on broadband, quarter, sorry, on the broadband and on postpaid. I think we are doing good. People are consuming more. ARPU are going up in postpaid. In broadband, we're still gaining subscribers and moving to fiber and doing so. I think when you talk about broadband fix and postpaid, we're doing okay in Mexico. When you talk a little bit about the prepaid, that I think is the concern that I have been reading this morning, is, first, and not the only thing, is the slowdown of the economy in Mexico. I think that's the first thing.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

You see that the ARPU is declining a little bit, and the ARPU is declining because our consumers are spending a little bit less than they used to be. When it's prepaid, it's really tied to the economy. When things are good, people consume more. ARPU grows. When things are not so good, slowdown, then people are consuming a little bit less. On the other side, we have a very aggressive competition in promotions of some MVNOs like BitÄ—. It's very aggressive, and they are growing. The difference is that, well, they have an ARPU of MXN 38, and we're having an ARPU of MXN 177. The difference between their subscribers and our subscribers is maybe three, four times difference on that. We have been having and looking at our strategy is to look for good prepaid. All of them are good.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Maybe what is happening is that their subscribers or the promotions that the market and they are having are so aggressive that they just want to not recharge and give service for free. That is an issue, and I hope that will solve in the future, but they have been doing that for some time. Let's see what is going to happen when they start to move a little bit and take out these promotions. Another sign that I see this quarter is in number portability. They have been gaining in number portability, let's say the same, but what I see in the numbers, but losing more subscribers in number portability. Number portability has been not so good as they used to be last year.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Subscribers, when they start to move their promotions, they are going to decide in which other company they are going to use. The only thing is we are focusing in very good and the better on the highest ARPU customers in prepaid and in postpaid. Our number portability is doing a little bit better than last year. I think we are starting to see better numbers on that. That will be exactly what is happening in Mexico. Big and promotions where people are not paying or paying very low amount of money, and when they want to recharge, they are going to do that. When this promotion will end, I think it is going to be interesting how they are going to retain those customers. ARPUs are MXN 177 in Telcel, MXN 38 in the other company. It is exactly what is happening.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

It's not only one thing. You have a slowdown plus promotions plus our strategy. All of that is what is happening here now. I want to do another announcement that I have been since the last call that we don't give a guidance for CapEx budget. We have that announcement, and the CapEx for this year is going to be lower than last year. It's going to be MXN 6.7 billion. It's only because we're seeing a slowdown in all the economies, a little bit slowdown. We have been investing a lot, moving a lot with 5G. We have been doing the last three years more fiber, a lot on IT systems. We have a lot all our cloud and data centers all in place. That gives us a chance right now this year with the slowdown that we reduce the CapEx to MXN 6.7 billion.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

That is what we decided yesterday in the board. I feel very comfortable on that, and that's what we decide on that.

Marcelo Santos
Marcelo Santos
Senior Sell-side Equity Analyst at JPMorgan

Thank you. Do you have any comments on the M&A?

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

On the M&A, well, we're open to M&A. I think it will be a little bit difficult that in the region we'll have something alone. If you are saying because Telefónica is selling their assets, we are aware of that, and we're open to see if something fits in América Móvil strategy, that we're open to see anything.

Marcelo Santos
Marcelo Santos
Senior Sell-side Equity Analyst at JPMorgan

Perfect. Just on the CapEx, does this change your two-year CapEx view, or is it more a relocation of CapEx between the years? Just to understand how this talks with the guidance.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

We don't know. It's going to be very difficult to see what's going to be the CapEx of next year. I think this year is going to be MXN 6.7 billion. Next year, difficult to say, I don't think that it's going to go so high as we predicted. I don't know, depending on the growth, depending on the traffic, depending on a lot of things that we're going to see around this year.

Marcelo Santos
Marcelo Santos
Senior Sell-side Equity Analyst at JPMorgan

Perfect. Thank you very much for the clear answers.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Thank you.

Operator

The next question goes to Phani Kanumuri of HSBC. Phani, please go ahead.

Phani Kanumuri
Phani Kanumuri
Equity Research Analyst at HSBC

Thank you for taking my questions. The first question is regarding your corporate network revenues in the fixed segment. Are you seeing some pressure due to the global concerns on growth on the corporate segment revenue, and do you expect the growth rate to continue in this segment? My second question is regarding Colombia. The margins have come down year on year as well as quarter on quarter. What is driving the margin decline in Colombia? Thank you.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

I'm going to start in Colombia. I think Colombia is doing much better. Colombia, our service revenue is growing 6% this quarter. Wireless revenue, 8.3%. We are growing, and we are growing more. That's why we are investing a little bit more in growth. That is the reason why our EBITDA in terms of percentage reduced a little bit, but we grow our EBITDA point.

Oscar Von Hauske
Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil

2.4.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

2.4%. The EBITDA is growing, and we are doing good in the market. We are recovering, and I think we're going to have a good year in Colombia. 2025 is going to be a good year for us. The other thing in the corporate segment, Oscar can talk a little bit about that. I think we are very strong. We have been investing a lot in salespeople, in apps, in services, in alliances, in our data centers, and it's a very important market, and we're going to continue to be focusing on that. Sometimes the corporate, but Oscar can talk a little bit about that. Sometimes in the quarter, we gain some big customers, so that's why we grow a little bit more.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Other ones is in the other quarter, but overall, we're focusing in the corporate segment, and we want to grow and be strong on that. Oscar can be with more detail.

Oscar Von Hauske
Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil

Yeah, yeah. Thank you. As you mentioned, last year, we won a very large project, and now we have a very, very strong pipeline. With the new conditions and the people taking more time to get the decisions, what we see in the pipeline around cloud services, digitalization, data centers, we see a very, very huge pipeline. We believe that we will catch up through the year. The people are taking more time to take a decision right now, given the economic situation. The pipeline that we have is very, very strong, as Daniel said.

Phani Kanumuri
Phani Kanumuri
Equity Research Analyst at HSBC

Thank you, everyone. It is pretty good.

Daniela Lecuona
Head of Investor Relations and Chief Sustainability Officer at América Móvil

The next question goes to Vitor Tomita of Goldman Sachs. Vitor, please go ahead.

Vitor Tomita
Vitor Tomita
Equity Research VP at Goldman Sachs

Hello, good morning, and thanks for taking our questions. We have two questions from our side. The first one is a follow-up on the spend reduction, the reduction in spending by prepaid customers in Mexico. Do you have any visibility on whether customers are simply reducing internet usage or switching to lower-cost competitors to some extent or using Wi-Fi a lot more? Just to check if you have any visibility on how people are being able to actually reduce their spending without affecting their daily usage or their daily habits. The second question from our side on a similar note, also discussing Mexico, could you give us a bit more of an update on how you are seeing the competitive environment for broadband given the following good results in broadband this quarter? Thank you very much.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

On the prepaid, what I see and what I'm looking on the prepaid on the reduction on ARPU because the slowdown on the economy is because people are delaying a little bit the recharge of the phone. You sell a card of 15 days, and sometimes they recharge before because they have all their data finished. Sometimes they recharge. Today, they wait a little bit, wait one or two days, and then they go and recharge, and that gives us the reduction on ARPU. People are delaying a little bit the buying cards and recharging the cards. It's what I see, and it's what is happening right now. On the broadband, we're going to be still doing good, and we're going to still be aggressive. As we put more fiber, we're going to change more customers.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

We have 90% of our customers connected through fiber, and I think we're going to have more loyal customers with fiber, good speeds, and good prices. I think we are very aggressive in the market in the broadband, and I think that's what is happening right now.

Oscar Von Hauske
Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil

Just to give you a bit more color on the prepaid, Vitor, the prepaid ARPU was growing a year ago 4.5%. By the third quarter, it had slowed down to 3.1%, 0.8% in the fourth, and it was minus 2.2% in the first quarter of the year. This is very much in line with the chart that I showed you with the decline of domestic consumption. That is basically the same timing. As Daniel said, the whole issue of prepaid, the whole reason for prepaid to exist is that people have more control over their spending. If they become a bit more cautious, more uncertain about the environment, then they typically reduce their spending. They do not have to spend in and out every month as they would with a regular postpaid plan. Okay?

Oscar Von Hauske
Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil

That's the beauty of prepaid for the people, and they adjust their spending very rapidly. The first signs of slowdown of the economy.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

As I said, it's the slowdown of the economy and also big promotion for competition and other ones that are doing. It's not only one thing what's happening in Mexico. There are a couple or three things that we already explained, and the market is there. I think it will be better in the future. I don't know for how long it's going to be so aggressive. We have the best network. We have very good coverage, the best systems, IT. Very good quality in the network. That also counts. It's not only promotions. Other things count also on that.

Vitor Tomita
Vitor Tomita
Equity Research VP at Goldman Sachs

That was very clear. Thank you very much.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. The next question goes to Lucca Brendim of Bank of America. Lucca, please go ahead.

Lucca Brendim
Lucca Brendim
Equity Research Associate at Bank of America

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two here on my side. The first one, you mentioned a little bit about the recent M&A moves that we saw in Latin America. I just wanted to check if you were already seeing some changes in terms of competition, the competitive environment in any of the regions where we have seen M&A or where we're seeing lots of conversations about what could be happening. The second one, now that you have incorporated the Chilean operations, could you give us an update on the strategy for the region if the main focus will be increasing profitability or what are the main growth drivers that you see for the region? Thank you.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

For the region or for Chile?

Lucca Brendim
Lucca Brendim
Equity Research Associate at Bank of America

For Chile.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Okay. On the M&A, I think everybody understands that M&A brings consolidation. Consolidation is much better for all the markets, okay? Stronger competitors, and that will be good for us. I do not think that will be the case of Colombia, let's say, the case of Argentina. I think consolidation is not bad. On Chile, what is the question? If we want to go for profitability or for market share, I think in Chile we want to go for profitability and for market share. I think still we have not very high market share in the wireless market, and we are growing. We are going to grow there. We are changing the network. We are putting more coverage. We are doing 5G. We are buying spectrum. In prepaid and in postpaid, we are going to be targeting more customers, more market share, and try to grow there.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

We're still very small in market share. We want to grow. In the broadband, we have also a good strategy. We're giving TV, good channels. We have the best TV, and we're moving to fiber. We're moving very fast to fiber, and that's been very good for us. Churn has been reduced. We are having not a six-month plan in Chile. We are having a three, five-year plan with Chile, and that's what we are targeting, moving to fiber, putting best network, doing quality, very competitive. The other that Oscar is saying, we still have a long way to go on the synergy. Merging the two companies, we still have a lot of synergies to go. I'm sure that we're going to grow our market share, and I'm sure that we're going to grow our EBITDA margin in the future. That's what we have in Chile.

Lucca Brendim
Lucca Brendim
Equity Research Associate at Bank of America

Very clear. Thank you for the answers.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Thank you.

Operator

The next question goes to Carlos de Legarreta of Itaú. Carlos, please go ahead.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

Thank you. Good morning. A couple of questions on my end, and hopefully, they're not just housekeeping questions, but on Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay that you're reporting together now, you mentioned in the press release that these are proforma figures for Chile, and yet there's a double-digit increase in EBITDA, a massive increase in the EBITDA margin. We just want to understand what is the nature or what is behind this. Is Chile doing much better, or is there an improvement perhaps in Paraguay and Uruguay? A sort of similar question also in Central America, you also had an outstanding increase in the EBITDA margin, and there's not really a ton of explanation in the press release. We'd love to hear your thoughts on that. Thank you.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

First, in Central America, you know that we have this—how come you said that?

Carlos García Moreno
CFO at América Móvil

Cyber attack.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Cyber attack in last year, in January, a little bit of February. The comparison between last year and this year is different. If you look at what we do in fourth quarter and what we're going to have in the third quarter, we have been, as I said, investing very good in Guatemala, buying frequency, doing more coverage in 5G. Also, El Salvador doing more fiber all around Costa Rica, doing Honduras, Nicaragua. All around Central America, we have been investing for the last two, three years, good, strong, and we're seeing good performance in our—in the other side, we are being very aggressive on the cost and expenses. We have to reduce costs and control expenses. We are doing good.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

This quarter is a little bit difficult to compare against last quarter of last year, at the same quarter of last year, but you are going to see a second quarter with a good comparison, and you're going to see very good—not the growth that we have right now, but you're going to see very good growth in Central America. I think we're doing good. Not only Central America, in the Caribbean, we're also doing good. Dominican Republic has been doing good. Also, Peru has been growing and gaining market share. Colombia, we're doing very strong. Eastern Europe, we are growing and gaining also some market share and reducing costs.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

To be honest, overall, in América Móvil, we have, because all the investments that we have been having for the last five years, four years, all the control of the costs that we're having, investing in our people, training, and doing more on all the corporate side, I think we have a good quarter, a quarter where we're gaining market shares and being good in control cost and EBITDA. Overall, I think in Paraguay also, you're talking about Paraguay and Uruguay, we're doing good. I don't know if you want to talk a little bit, Oscar, about Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile.

Oscar Von Hauske
Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil

Before we talk about the actual operation, Paraguay and Uruguay, and just to clear up your doubt, Carlos, the financial statements do not have Chile on proforma basis. Financial statements do not have Chile on proforma basis. Now, in the section Southern Cone, which is the first time that we come up with this section as Southern Cone, we did want to include proforma so that you could look for your models. From here now on, you could have some basis of what the numbers are, and you can basically come to terms with that, okay? We would expect that as soon as Argentina ceases to be hyperinflationary, which will probably be as soon as next year, we can group all of the financials and the operating statistics of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay within the same group, okay?

Oscar Von Hauske
Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil

I would expect that we were going to have the combined numbers, again, financial and operational for Southern Cone beginning next year. This year, we will still have Argentina separate. Just to give you an idea of what things look like for the rest of the group, which is Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile, we are providing for this purpose the proforma figures. On the operations and.

Oscar Von Hauske
Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil

Carlos.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

Sorry, sorry.

Oscar Von Hauske
Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil

Yeah, yeah. Sorry. No, no, please.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

Thank you. Just.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

I know I've been consolidating P&L.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

Just specifically, I mean, we can follow up with Daniel, but in the Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay section, the revenue increase looks like it is proforma, yet the EBITDA increase is 46%. That does not look proforma. Either there is an inconsistency or there was, like I said, perhaps a massive improvement in the profitability.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

No, Carlos, it is proforma. It is proforma in the table.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

Thank you.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

It's also on the table.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

Right, right. If it's not an inorganic effect, what is the driver behind the margin increase?

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

See, no, we did have.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

I mean, just to tell you, one year ago, the EBITDA was not so good. We have been growing our EBITDA margin in Chile. The question is because of the EBITDA margin, it is proforma, but we are growing very well our margins because of the synergies that we are having in Chile. That is what is happening. If you—that is really—if that answers your question.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

That was the.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

We are having a very good EBITDA and growing our EBITDA in Chile, and Chile is doing good, and the synergies are working very good. Against last year, we spend a lot of money. We take out some people. We reduce some costs that we have and content cost, a lot of all the synergies.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Maintenance cost.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Yes. Maintenance cost, the new network, as we're saving some money with the new network. Yes, that goes directly to our EBITDA numbers.

Carlos de Legarreta
VP Equity Research at Itaú

That's great. That's exactly the question. I appreciate it.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Yes.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Okay.

Operator

We have a follow-up from Vitor Tomita of Goldman Sachs. Vitor, please go ahead.

Vitor Tomita
Vitor Tomita
Equity Research VP at Goldman Sachs

Hi. Just a very quick follow-up on the new CapEx guidance. Back in the previous earnings call, it was mentioned that there could be some additional CapEx for Chile. Does this new guidance already include what you plan to invest in Chile, or is it separate? Thank you.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

No, no, no. All our CapEx guidance includes all the CapEx of all the companies. So it includes Chile, includes everything, okay?

Vitor Tomita
Vitor Tomita
Equity Research VP at Goldman Sachs

Perfect. Thank you very much.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

We used to give a CapEx guidance before the three-year CapEx guidance. I think the last question is if we are going to—the reduction that we have this year may be increased for next year. I do not know. I do not think so, but I do not know. I think the reduction this year will not increase the normal guidance of CapEx for next year. I do not know, but we feel that we can save some CapEx for the future.

Vitor Tomita
Vitor Tomita
Equity Research VP at Goldman Sachs

Clear. Thank you very much.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We have no further questions. I'll hand back to Mr. Daniel Hajj for any closing comments.

Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil

Oh, just want to thank everyone for being in the call. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines.

Analysts
    • Daniela Lecuona
      Head of Investor Relations and Chief Sustainability Officer at América Móvil
    • Carlos de Legarreta
      VP Equity Research at Itaú
    • Vitor Tomita
      Equity Research VP at Goldman Sachs
    • Phani Kanumuri
      Equity Research Analyst at HSBC
    • Carlos García Moreno
      CFO at América Móvil
    • Walter Piecyk
      General Partner and TMT Analyst at LightShed
    • Leonardo Olmos
      Executive Director at UBS
    • Marcelo Santos
      Senior Sell-side Equity Analyst at JPMorgan
    • Oscar Von Hauske
      Chief Fixed-line Operations and Information Security Officer at América Móvil
    • Daniel Hajj Aboumrad
      CEO and Committee Chair at América Móvil
    • Lucca Brendim
      Equity Research Associate at Bank of America
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