Government cancels Telecom-Telmex sale agreement

The Colombian government has cancelled its plan to sell a majority stake in national fixed line operator Colombia Telecom to Mexican telco Telmex for USD350 million, and is now planning to accept bids from other interested companies. The decision means canceling a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was drawn up in August between the state-owned telco and Telmex’s billionaire owner Carlos Slim, which was to be ratified this month. Telecom now expects to publish a timetable within a week for a formal process open to more bidders, according to BNamericas. Operators including Spain’s Telefónica and Telecom Italia have expressed their interest in bidding, but have not yet made formal offers. A Telecom spokesman told Bloomberg that, despite the MoU being cancelled, Slim remains in advanced talks with the government, which owns 99.99% of Telecom.