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America Movil S.A.B. de C.V. Q3 F2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Caleb
Conference Operator
Good morning. My name is Caleb and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the America Mobile Third Quarter 2026 conference call and webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, 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 your question, press star one again. Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Daniela Lecuona, Head of Investor Relations.
Daniela Lecuona
Head of Investor Relations
Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today to discuss our third quarter financial and operating results. We have on the line Mr. Daniel Hajj, CEO, Mr. Carlos Garcia Moreno CFO and Mr. Oscar Von Hauske COO.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Thanks, Daniela. Welcome, everyone. Thanks for being here in the third quarter of 2026 conference call. Carlos is going to make a summary of the results.
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
Thank you, Daniel. Good morning, everyone. Well, we had the third quarter With oil prices rising to a new peak in mid-September of over $100 per barrel of WTI crude, long-term inflation expectations were duly affected, pushing long-term rates up, with the yield on 10-year treasury notes accelerating its gains from the last week of August. These factors, together with a particularly strong nonfarm payrolls report for that month, that exceeded expectations were the main drivers of the Fed's decision on September 16th to increase its policy rate by 25 basis points. The higher rates in the U.S. supported a recovery of the dollar versus some currencies in our region of operations. The Mexican peso gave up in September. All the gains it had posted versus the dollar in the first two months of the quarter turned the period down approximately 2.1%. The Colombian peso managed to gain 3% in spite of this, while the Brazilian Real and the Euro remain practically unchanged over the quarter. In the third quarter, we added 3.1 million posted subscribers, roughly the average of the prior four quarters, as Brazil led the way with 743,000 additions. Colombia followed with 348,000, Peru with 229,000, Mexico with 144,000, and Argentina with 126,000 subscribers. In the prepaid segment, we recorded 5 million net disconnections, primarily reflecting subscriber-based cleanups in Mexico and Colombia. Notwithstanding the cleanups, we managed to post net prepaid subscriber gains in Eastern Europe, Argentina, Central America, and Ecuador that totaled 745,000 subscribers. In the fixed-land segment, we connected 390,000 new broadband accesses. Brazil was the main contributor with 94,000 additions, followed by Colombia with 67,000 and Argentina with 53,000. Pay TV net additions totaled 50,000 units with Eastern Europe and Central America accounting for most of the growth. Mobile postage and fixed costs and accesses remain the main drivers of customer growth, increasing 8.9% and 5.6% respectively compared to the year earlier quarter. American knowledge third quarter revenue, total 251 billion pesos, 7.6% year-on-year increase, with the EBITDA reaching 40.8% margin, a 0.5 percentage point increase from a year before. At constant exchange rates, the service revenue was up 5.3% and EBITDA 6.7%.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
EBITDA continued to grow faster than service revenue.
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
Service revenue growth resulted from mobile service revenue increasing 6.3%, very much in line with the pace of service revenue in the prior three quarters, and fixed-line revenue growth accelerating to 3.7% from 2.7% in the prior quarter. On the mobile platform, post-service revenue increased 7.5% year-on-year at constant exchange rates, also very similar to that of the prior three quarters, while prepaid revenue rose 4.3%, slightly less rapidly and the pace of the preceding quarter, but very much in line with the prior quarters. Post-privileged growth accelerated in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia to 8%, 8.5% and 12% respectively. Growth rates in Chile and Peru also moved up to 11.5% and 7.5% respectively. Operating profit for prepaid service revenue growth decelerated in Mexico, partly reflecting the subscriber registration process mandated by the regulator, as well as in Brazil and Austria, but accelerated in Eastern Europe, Central America, Caribbean, and Ecuador. Operating profit totaled 57 billion pesos, up 13.9% from the year-earlier quarter, outpacing EBITDA growth as depreciation and amortization charges rose only 3%. Although net interest expense was down 11.2% year-on-year, Our comprehensive financing costs increased as a result of foreign exchange losses of 3.6 billion pesos in the period compared to foreign exchange gains the prior year. We posted a net profit of 24 billion pesos in the quarter, 7% higher than in the yearly quarter, bringing our year-to-date net income to 72 billion pesos. In the nine months to September, our capital expenditures totaled 76 billion pesos. They were fully funded by our cash flow, which also enabled us to reduce net debt in cash flow terms by 34 billion pesos and distribute 27 billion pesos to our shareholders by way of share buybacks and dividends. Our labor obligations came down by 13 billion pesos in the quarter. Our free cash flow was 41% higher than that of 2025, which in turn had been 47% greater than that of the year before. A great share of the cash flow went to the reduction Thank you. Thank you, Carlos. And we can start with the Q&A.
Caleb
Conference Operator
At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Marcelo Santos with JP Morgan. Your line is open, please go ahead.
Marcelo Santos
Analyst at JP Morgan
Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I think the first question I wanted to approach is the M&A pipeline and outlook for buybacks. I think in the investor day in New York, you mentioned that that was a priority. I want to know how is that pipeline, if there is room to increase in buybacks. I know we have been increasing so far, but I wanted to get a better feeling about the outlook there. And the second question is about Mexican broadband. I think there are a couple of different moving parts. I mean, this was a quarter where the net ads were much lower than in previous quarters. So just wanted to understand what's happening there. But at the same time, the revenue growth was much stronger than in previous quarters. So just want to understand these moving parts in Mexican broadband. Thank you very much.
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
Thank you, Marcelo. You were mentioning the rest of A, where we provided the items for the period 26 to 28, right? Here, we stated a leverage ratio that we intended to remain within, which was 1.2 times to 1.5, which is basically where we have been. And we said this had also to accommodate The share buyback was overall distributions plus the M&A. In this quarter, we are going to have an important amount that we have to accommodate in the M&A front, which is the consolidation of desktop. As you know, the total value, I think we can announce that, is R4 billion. that although we still have not completed the tender offer, but it should be completed probably just after the turn of the year. But for the most part, most of the $4 billion will be accounted for in the last quarter. And then also we have the last payment of dividends, which will take place in a couple of weeks, two or three weeks, which is in the neighborhood of $17 billion pesos. Okay, so those are the things that we have in the immediate time, in the immediate period. But as I said, you know, the guidance that we provide is basically for the next two years as well. And we don't have anything more in the M&A pipeline other than the acquisition in Peru I'm waiting for regulatory approval, likely to be reviewed until the second half of the year.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
And we don't have anything else on Colombia. On Colombia that we think that it could be at the end of this year. And on the Mexico broadband, Oscar can talk a little bit more, but I can tell you that we have been growing good the last quarters. and what we do this last quarter, we clean a little bit also our base, people who are not paying or not consuming, and we clean it up. So that's the reason why revenues are increasing and the net debts are not as
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
It is what you say, but I will add that we increase the speed of all the customer base to be more competitive in the market. And we are focused more in turn as well on upselling the customer base. That's why we had a good increase in e-wares.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
And we have how many already in Fiverr?
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
94% of the customers are already connected with Fiverr.
Caleb
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Fanny Kanemuri with HSBC. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Fanny Kanemuri
Analyst at HSBC
Thanks for taking my questions. The first question is on Argentina. You seem to have a very strong momentum there. but also there is a new operator now after Telcom Argentina has divested its assets. So how are you seeing the competitive scenario there and what do you expect from this new competition in Argentina? The second question is more accounting related. In your cash flow statements, I observed that your taxes that you paid this year are lower than last year in the first nine months. Could you please specify what is driving it? Thank you.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Talking a little bit about Argentina. Well, yes, I think it was a very good quarter for Argentina. We have been investing for a long time. We have a very good 5G network. We have also a lot of broadband. The Telephonic and Telecom has merged. I think they already approved it, but they have been, we know that since maybe one year. So I think it's a good market. The economy is improving. Things are going good with us. So we are taking advantage from that. So we have good quality, good networks, good distribution. A very good data center for corporate businesses, and that's the reason why we're growing there.
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
And on the question of the taxes paid, they basically have to do, you know, partly with some monies that we receive back from the tax authorities In some countries, Mexico, partly something having to do with some limited measures that we've done, and then something having to do basically with the cash flow during the year, how much you pay throughout the year, besides how much you pay in the annual amount. So whenever you have paid too much during the year, Based on the formula that we have in different countries, and I think this is the most important thing, then at the moment that you present your annual returns, then you basically get some credit back. So it basically has to do with that.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Nothing special. And adding a little bit more on Argentina, so they approved the merge and and the remedies, we understand that there's a new company called MetroTel, there's going to move 6 million subscribers, there's only, there's not going to be a new network, it's like, I think it's going to be like an MBNO, 200,000 broadband subscribers and they have to do it in 18 months. So, well, There's a lot of things going on in Argentina, but we are well prepared to still grow and that we are good in corporate business. We have a very good fiber network doing good in broadband and in 5G and the spectrum and the network also quality. We're doing okay, so let's see what's going to happen.
Fanny Kanemuri
Analyst at HSBC
Thanks for answering my questions.
Caleb
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Walter Pisek with LightShed. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Walter Pisek
Analyst at LightShed
Thanks. What do you guys expect Televisa to do differently after they buy or if they complete the purchase of the AT&T assets in Mexico?
Daniel Hajj
CEO
It's difficult to say. I think AT&T was a strong competitor, do a lot of things. Well, it's one of the biggest companies in the U.S. and do a lot of things in Mexico. I think Televisa is also going to be a strong competitor. We think that's going to happen. But at the end of the day, we need to do what we have been doing for a long time. We need to have the best network, good investments, 5G coverage, good quality. We have almost 700 customer care centers, good to take care of the people, our customers. So all of this, the distribution, We tell them it's a very strong brand in Mexico. So all of that, we need to follow that and still do what we have been doing. We don't know exactly what they are going to do, what they are going to change, what's going to be their strategy. Let's see what's going to happen when they authorize and take the operation of the company. But as I told you, AT&T, and I'm sure that Televisa is going to be also a strong competitor. So we still need to do what we have been doing, reinforce our investments, train our people, more salespeople, more distributors, all of that we have to still Carlos Jose Garcia Moreno Elizondo, Daniela Lecuona Torras
Walter Pisek
Analyst at LightShed
What type of moves, I guess, in currency have an impact?
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Sorry, what you see this year is we have less capex, and it's exactly because what you are saying, we give capex in dollars to the subsidiaries, and then the movement of the currencies make... That we have less capex in pesos. So at this time, we don't need to move the capex to do more. Some countries are exceeding a little bit their budgets, other ones they are not exceeding. So we all over all, we said 7 billion, 5% plus, 5% less, and it's where we are. and I think for next year we're going to have the same, $7 billion, something like that. And we are still making. I don't know if we need to do a little bit more or a little bit less. We haven't finished our budget, but no major changes in capex. So that's what we have been doing and what we're budgeting for next year.
Walter Pisek
Analyst at LightShed
Great. Thanks, Daniel. Appreciate it.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Thank you.
Caleb
Conference Operator
Just a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Gustavo Farias with UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Gustavo Farias
Analyst at UBS
Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. So, too, on my end, on Brazil competition. So, within Brazil, Mobile Trends, Groovin's Quarter, Do you believe the competitive environment is stabilizing or promotional pressures are still increasing? And my second one on convergent offers. In Brazil, we've seen mobile service revenue accelerating, but fixed service revenue has slowed down. So my question is, as convergence becomes more relevant, Do you believe investors should focus more on the total service revenue and not maybe only on or more focused on mobile service revenue alone? Thank you.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Well, let's talk a little bit about Brazil. We have a lot of competition. That's no doubt. There's a lot of competitors. There are different competitors in mobile, and we have other competitors in broadband, fiber, TV. So it's a lot of competition there. So if you are telling, I think in mobile, we are stabilizing a little bit the promotions, but we don't know what is going to happen in the fourth quarter. It's coming Christmas and all of that, so we don't know what is going to happen. I don't know what the competitions are going to do, but I think all of them want to have a long-term view. So maybe they have promotions, but there will be some promotions, not reducing price for a year or two years. So let's see what we're going to get in the fourth quarter in promotions. But that's what it is. In the broadband business and the TV business, there's a lot, as you know, there's a lot of companies with fiber. They call them in Brazil. So we are growing good. We grow 90 broadband subscribers. That's good for us. Maybe we have more promotions that we used to do, but those promotions should have some time and then the revenue will come later. We are working very hard because we are just taking desktop in 1st of October. So I think we have a lot of synergies and we're going to have also good synergies on the commercial side where we can sell To these customers, all the products that we have and to some postpaid or mobile customers that we have, we can sell also where we have Fiverr, Disney, because desktop has around 4.8 million home passes. and more than half of that we are not in those areas. Exactly. So we're going to have a lot of opportunities there and that's what we're focusing. So these next six months we want to integrate the company and take advantage as much as possible to all these desktop subscribers that we have and the mobile where we don't have a footprint of fiber to give and offer fiber to them.
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
And just a comment. We haven't made any changes in the allocation of baseline revenues as per the different services. So, you know, between broadband and pay TV and voice, we haven't made any changes in the way that we allocate those revenues.
Gustavo Farias
Analyst at UBS
All right, very clear. Thank you, guys. Thank you.
Caleb
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Rogerio Araujo with Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Rogerio Araujo
Analyst at Bank of America
Hi, guys. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. I have a follow-up on the Brazilian market regarding price and outlook and also new sales autonomy. Given the limited front book The price increases this year. How do you see the pricing outlook for next year? And if you could be more specific on unlimited WhatsApp and prepaid as well. We noticed that Vivo and then Tim, they took it out from their plans if Claro could follow and then if there is any expectation of prepaid price increase after several years of flattish prices. And also if you could tell us a little bit on the strategy for pricing of Nussel, if they have full autonomy or if Claro participates in those decisions and what to expect for looking into 27. Thank you so much.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
The first one, Nussel, I think we have an agreement with them and they can do whatever they want to do inside this agreement okay but now they can decide their prices alone but if they do let's say they reduce the price I don't think we're going to reduce the cost so they have they are going to manage their prices on the area that they can do it so that's what the agreement that we have with Nusselt I think they are going good They have good customer base and they are still growing and doing good as an NBNO. So Nussel is doing okay. On the promotions and in WhatsApp and prepaid promotions, Sometimes it's very difficult to increase the price of the card. So I think it's better if you want to increase the price is to take out some promotions. And that's what we do on the WhatsApp inside the card. So you take promotions and it's a little bit increasing the price. So I think that's more or less the way Thank you for watching. to reduce the time of the card, so that's a way to increase price or take out some promotions or increase the card or take out some gigas. So there's a lot of things. And in post-paid wealth, you can increase prices. I don't know. I can lie to you if I can tell you what is going to be our price strategy for next year. Of course, there's inflation in Brazil. Costs are increasing. But I don't know if we are going to be allowed means competition to increase or not increase prices. So still, we haven't discussed that. and we're sure that costs are increasing but we don't know still if we are going to increase or when we are going to increase prices or take out some promotions. So that's what we have. What I can tell you is that the promotions in broadband are high and we're going to still and we will remain competitive and do what we need to do to be competitive in all the segments in Brazil. So that's what we do and what we're going to do this year and next year.
Rogerio Araujo
Analyst at Bank of America
Okay, that's very clear. If I may, one follow-up on the agreement with Nusselt that you mentioned. You mentioned the cost, you know, if they reduce price, not necessarily this cost will reduce. But if this cost with Claro increases by inflation on an annual basis or any other rate, is there an automatic inflation pass-through on those costs?
Daniel Hajj
CEO
I don't remember the agreement, but I don't remember the agreement that we have with Moselle. Your next question comes from the line of Jesus Broma with Global Data. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Jesus Broma
Analyst at Global Data
Good morning. Congratulations on the results, and thank you for taking my questions. I have a couple of questions about the dynamics of postpaid and prepaid in Mexico, and I wonder if you could add more color. The first one is regarding postpaid. I see that you had a substantial growth in net ads, over 140,000, which is one of the best quarters lately, and 8% increase in postpaid revenue. I wonder if you could add some color on what are the dynamics that are pushing post-paid forward in terms of both subscriptions and revenue, if it's related to IoT, to renewals or clients demanding more data. And on prepaid, just to clarify if part of the net losses that you posted for this quarter are related to the prepaid registration mandate in Mexico. Thank you.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Well, we're talking about postpaid. I think in postpaid we're doing an excellent job. I can tell you that all the customers that are coming to renew their plan in our customer care centers are moving, half of them are moving to a better plan. That's a good ARPU and that's the reason why revenues are increasing. We have a source of revenues new The second is the migration from prepaid to postpaid. We're having more, and since the registration of the number, I think more people are coming from prepaid to postpaid. And people is using also more from 4G to 5G. So I think we are the only ones who has a very good 5G and coverage network in Mexico. And that's what you are seeing. That's more or less what we have in postpaid. And in prepaid, well, we have these connections, and there are these connections that sometimes it's people that only use one time. They take the card and move it. So those are people that we are disconnecting, and we still are in the process of registering all the numbers. It's every 15 days. It's a new number that people have to register until the end of December. And, well, it's still a long way to go there. But, yes, people are... Some people are not... People that are consuming are not also want to register. But, well, that's what we have there. And... I think at the beginning, we're going to have a little bit of reduction on the prepaid revenues, but in the mid-run, I think this is going to recover. So that's what we have. So people are taking more time to register their number. But at the end of the day, I hope and I don't think that people are going to stay without a phone Thank you very much.
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
Just to add to what Daniel is saying, our ARPU, our state ARPU growth in Mexico in the quarter, we see that for the last three years at least, we are seeing a continuous acceleration of our post-ARPU growth, which is quite significant. Thank you.
Jesus Broma
Analyst at Global Data
Thank you. One follow-up, if I may. Regarding postpaid, I understand that these are mostly consumer trends, but do you see that the corporate of the B2B side of the operation is also helping the postpaid revenue in this year?
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Yes, we're having more corporate. The corporate is helping a lot on the peaks on all these Excellent, thank you.
Caleb
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of David Lopez with New Street Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
David Lopez
Analyst at New Street Research
Hi, thanks for the opportunity and congrats on your results. Just one question on Colombia, please. It's another very strong quarter for Colombia. I was wondering if you can comment on what's working well there. Also comment on the ARPU growth this quarter and how sustainable this kind of performance is in Colombia. Thank you.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Well, in Colombia, if we go back five years ago, when WAM enters, they do crazy promotions. with a lot of data, the character of the market, but well, that passed. And we have been, since that, we have been growing and we have been doing good. We do, and we focus, as we're focusing in Mexico, a good network, good customer retention, good upselling. We have a lot of upselling there, very good upselling. And one of the things that we have is We have the biggest 5G network because they launch, well, they sell the spectrum and we start to do 5G since the beginning so we don't have to wait to do the network. We already do invest in the 5G network so we were the first, the starters in 5G In Colombia, in the market, and that is helping us. That's the reason. We have a very good coverage, we have a good network, and we're growing also very, very, very good. So that's what you are seeing in Colombia.
David Lopez
Analyst at New Street Research
Very clear, thank you. And maybe a quick follow-up. While you mention Spectrum, what is the next big option coming in your main market, please?
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Where, in which country?
David Lopez
Analyst at New Street Research
Across your markets. Which one will be the largest one coming?
Daniel Hajj
CEO
I think we have, I don't remember exactly, but I think we have something in Honduras for the end of this year to do 5G, but nothing, I don't remember all the other options.
David Lopez
Analyst at New Street Research
Okay, thank you very much.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
We don't need it at this time, so.
Caleb
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Ernesto Gonzalez with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Ernesto Gonzalez
Analyst at Morgan Stanley
Hi. Thank you for taking your question. Just talking about the smaller markets, you also delivered strong results in Peru and Ecuador. Anything to call out here or in any of the other markets we didn't discuss? Thank you.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
I think we're doing very good in Ecuador. Ecuador is growing good. We have a strategy on foreplay. We're doing fiber. It cost us a lot of time to understand the peak business in Ecuador, but I think we have been having maybe two years doing good, increasing our fiber footprint, taking good customers. Eugenio Chacon, Daniela Lecuona Torras All Central America, we have outstanding results in Central America, growing in all the countries, moving a lot more on peaks, moving in 5G. All of Central America is doing good, reducing a lot cost and expenses. All these small countries, we are Really not the small countries and something that we haven't talked about is that we have been improving a lot in cost and efficiencies with some of AI platforms that we think are very convenient for us so we are understanding more our customer and doing a lot more things on the cost call centers cost side and all of that so We are having like a big strategy and cost control with all AI platforms and Oscar can talk a little bit on that.
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
As you mentioned, we are focused on the main agents and help us to reduce costs and we are more focused on customer interactions and some part of the network that has been helping us to reduce costs in call centers and maintenance in the network.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
and contact the customer faster and solving the problem faster. Let's say in the broadband, AI is helping us to go faster to solve the problem, to attend our customer. All of these things were improving and we have like a three-year plan to improve every day on all of these areas. Peru is doing also good. We have more competition, but Peru is doing also good. We have the third operator that is very aggressive in pricing, but we have convergence, we have all of that, and we hope that we can close our A company that we buy and consolidated as soon as possible in Peru also.
Carlos Garcia Moreno
CFO
And just what Daniel was saying on Central America, just to give you an idea. Revenue growth, savings revenue growth in Central America in the quarter was 11.4%. And EBITDA growth, again, in the region was 16.1%. Okay, so Central America, which is a collection of small countries, as you can see, Your next question comes from the line of Emilio Fuentes with GBM. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Emilio Fuentes
Analyst at GBM
Hi, thank you for taking my question. My question is regarding the Televisa acquisition of AT&T. There's been rumors circling around of how Televisa could bundle both its current fixed services with AT&T's mobile services. Related to this, do you expect to receive permission to also offer both fixed and mobile service bundled in Mexico? Thank you.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
Well, I think, yeah, they already have, they are going to have all the services, and I hope the government will allow us to do all the services also. So I think they should do it, no? There's no reason not to do it. And as I told you again, I think strategies are okay, but then you have to have a lot more things on not only a bundle strategy, then you have to have good coverage, good networks, good distribution, customer care centers. You have to have a lot of things. And well, that's something that we have been working and we're going to still work on that.
Emilio Fuentes
Analyst at GBM
Thank you again.
Caleb
Conference Operator
Thank you. We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Daniel Hajj for final remarks.
Daniel Hajj
CEO
I just thank everyone for being in the call. Thank you very much. Thank you all.
Caleb
Conference Operator
This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.