Unefon

active

Unefon was awarded, through the competitive bidding process, nine bands of spectrum to provide PSC services (30 MHz) and nine bands of spectrum to provide service using wireless local loop (WLL) by Cofetel in May 1998. Unefon paid US$ 58 million in 1998 and US$ 283 million by June 1999 towards the license fees. Unefon plans to begin services in 20 cities in 2000 and have 1.5 million users within five years. Unefon expects its fixed wireless telephones will help fulfill demand for basic telephony services in Mexico, which has a low telephone density. Unefon is owned 46.5 percent by Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca 46.5 percent by Alberto Moises Saba, a private investor, and 7 percent by small local investors. Under terms of the five-year, $480 million agreement, Nortel will supply Unefon with cdmaOne equipment and services, including a prepaid system. Nortel also agreed to provide Unefon with approximately $600 million in associated vendor financing. In 2003, shareholders of operator TV Azteca approved the spin-off of Unefon's mobile phone operations from TV Azteca's core television business. The created asset holder, Unefon Holdings, will assume control until an anticipated listing of the shares on domestic and US markets. In 2005, Unefon was delisted from the NYSE and considered delisting from the Mexican Stock Market. In April, 2007, the shareholders of Unefon approved the merger with a mobile operator, Iusacell, which issued around 34.2 million new shares to Unefon shareholders. At the time of the merger, Iusacell was valued at US$1.0 billion and Unefon at US$333.3 million. The newly merged operator will have around 3.4 million subscribers, a market share of around 7%. 'Other' represents Moises Saba Masri ownership of shares. Number of users in 2006 was based on 3Q 2006 reports. Investment commitments for 2006 were based on 2005 annual projections.