America Movil SAB de CV (AMX) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

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 Movil Third Quarter 2026 conference call and webcast. (Operator Instructions) Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Ms. 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 García Moreno, CFO; and Mr. Oscar Von Hauske, COO.

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.

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 non-farm payrolls report for that month that exceeded expectations, were the main drivers of the Fed's decision on September 16 to increase its policy rate by 25 basis points.

The higher rates in the US 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, ending the period down approximately 2.1%. The Colombian peso managed to gain 3% in spite of this, while the Brazilian real and the euro remained practically unchanged over the quarter. In the third quarter, we added 3.1 million postpaid 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 base 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-line 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 postpaid and fixed broadband accesses remain the main drivers of customer growth, increasing 8.9% and 5.6%, respectively, compared to the year-earlier quarter. America Movil third quarter revenue totaled MXN251 billion, a 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, service revenue was up 5.3% and EBITDA 6.7%. EBITDA continued to grow faster than service revenue. Service revenue growth resulted from mobile service revenue increasing 6.3%, very much in line with the pace of service prior three quarters, and fixed-line revenue growth accelerating to 3.7% from 2.7% in the prior quarter.

On the mobile platform, postpaid 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 than the pace of the preceding quarter, but very much in line with the prior quarters. Postpaid revenue 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, the Caribbean and Ecuador. Operating profit totaled MXN57 billion, 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 MXN3.6 billion in the period compared to foreign exchange gains in the prior year. We posted a net profit of MXN24 billion in the quarter, 7% higher than in the year-earlier quarter, bringing our year-to-date net income to MXN72 billion. In the nine months to September, our capital expenditures totaled MXN76 billion.

They were fully funded by our cash flow, which also enabled us to reduce net debt in cash flow terms by MXN34 billion and distribute MXN27 billion to our shareholders by way of share buybacks and dividends. Our labor obligations came down by MXN13 billion 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 of our net debt, such that at the end of the quarter, our net debt stood at MXN400 billion, excluding leases. It was equivalent to 1.21 times net debt to EBITDA after leases, down from 1.52 times at the end of 2025.

So with this, I will pass the floor back to Daniel so that we can begin the Q&A session. Thank you.

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

(Operator Instructions)

Marcelo Santos, JPMorgan.

I think the first question I wanted to approach is the M&A pipeline and the 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 you 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 you -- the net adds were much lower than in previous quarters. So I just wanted to get, understand what's happening there. But at the same time, the revenue growth was much stronger than in previous quarters. So I just want to understand the moving parts in Mexican broadband.

Thank you, Marcelo. Well, you were mentioning in the Investor Day, where we provided guidance for the period '26 to '28, right? Here, we stated a leverage ratio that we intended to remain within, which was 1.2times to 1.5 times, which is basically where we have been. And we said this has also to accommodate the share buyback, 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 announced that, is [BRL 4 billion].

Although, that we still have not completed the tender offer that should be completed probably just after the turn of the year. But for the most part, most of the BRL 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, three weeks, which is in the neighborhood of MXN17 billion, okay? So those are the things that we have immediate time on the near period.

But as I said, the guidance that we provide is basically for the overall, 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 that is waiting for regulatory approval, likely to be received in the second half of the year, and we don't have anything else on the...

Colombia --

Colombia.

Colombia that we think that it could be at the end of this year. So, 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 cleaned a little bit also our base. People that was not paying or not consuming, and we clean it up. So that's the reason why revenues are increasing and the net adds are not as previous quarters. I don't know, Oscar.

No, it is the same, but I will add that we increased the speed of all the customer base to be more competitive in the market. And we are focused more on churn as well and upselling the customer base. That's why we had a good increase in revenues.

And with that, how many FTTH are already in fiber?

94% of the customers are already connected with fiber.

Phani Kanumuri, HSBC.

The first question is on Argentina. You seem to have a very strong momentum there, but also there is a new operator now after Telecom 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? Are you seeing better realization from the taxes?

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 Telefónica 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 on 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 are growing there.

And on the question of the taxes paid, they basically have to do partly with some money that we received back from the tax authorities in some countries of 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 for the year vis-a-vis 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, okay? So that's, it basically has to do with that. Nothing special.

And adding a little bit more on Argentina. So we're, there's they approved the merge and the remedies, we understand that there's a new company called [Metrotel] that'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 MVNO, 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.

Walter Piecyk, LightShed.

What do you guys expect Televisa to do differently after they buy, as they complete the purchase of the AT&T assets in Mexico?

Well, 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 US 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 distribution with Telcel is 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 or 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 used to, is a strong competitor, 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 focus on that and do what we have been doing for the last years.

Got it. And then I guess, Carlos, on CapEx, I think in the past, you've cited currency moves having an impact on CapEx. But given the more recent currency move of the dollar recovering, does that give you more room to change CapEx there? Or is $7 billion the number? Or like how do you, what type of moves, I guess, in currency have an impact? Yes, go ahead.

Sorry, what you see this year, 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 overall, 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.

(Operator Instructions)

Gustavo Farias, UBS.

So two on my end. On Brazil competition. So we've seen Brazil mobile trends improving this 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, more focused on mobile service revenue alone?

Well, let's talk a little bit about. In 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 on the third, 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, not only, 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 fibreros -- ISPs in Brazil. So we are growing good. We grow 90 broadband subscribers. That's good for us. And 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 October 1. So I see, I think we have a lot of synergies. And we're going to have also good synergies on the commercial side. We can sell to these customers other products that we have and to some postpaid or mobile customers that we have, we can sell also where we have fiber this new because Desktop has around 4.8 million home passes and more than half of that, we are not in those areas.

Greenfield for us.

Exactly. So we're going to have a lot of opportunities there, and that's what we're focusing. So the 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 that, where we don't have footprint of fiber to give and offer fiber to them.

And just a comment. We haven't made any changes in the allocation of fixed-line revenues as per the different services, okay? So between broadband and pay TV and voice, we haven't made any changes in the way that we allocate those revenues.

Rogerio Araujo, Bank of America.

I have a follow-up on the Brazilian market regarding pricing outlook and also NuCel's autonomy. Given the limited front book price increases this year, how do you see the pricing outlook for next year? And if you could be more specific on unlimited, what's happening in prepaid as well. We noticed that Vivo and 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 NuCel, if they have full autonomy or if Claro participates in those decisions and what to expect looking into '27?

The first one, NuCel, I think we have an agreement with them, and they can do whatever they want to do inside this agreement, okay? But no, they can decide their prices alone. But if they do, let's say, if they reduce the price, I don't think we're going to reduce the cost. So 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 NuCel. I think they are doing good. They have a good customer base, and they are still growing and doing good as an MVNO. So NuCel 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 to do things in prepaid because if you sell at BRL 100 a card, it's difficult to do it at BRL 103.

So it's not so easy. You can do it, but it's not so easy. So sometimes it's better. I'm not saying that always, sometimes it's better to reduce the [vigencia]. The rate, the time of the card. So that's the way to increase price or take out some promotions or increase the card or take out some gigas or put. So there's a lot of things.

And in postpaid, well, you can increase price. 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 by 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 that's what we're going to do this year and next year.

Okay. That's very clear. If I may, one follow-up on the agreement with NuCel that you mentioned. You mentioned the cost. 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 automatic inflation pass-through on those costs?

I don't remember the agreement, I don't remember the agreement that we have with NuCel. But I don't know if it's inflation or if it's for two years, I don't know. I don't remember really the agreement that we have with them.

Fair enough. Congrats on the results.

Jesus Romo, GlobalData.

Congratulations on the results. I have a couple of questions about the dynamics of postpaid and prepaid in Mexico. And I wonder if you could have more color. The first one is regarding postpaid. I see that you are, you had a substantial growth in net adds 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 postpaid 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.

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 revenue is new customers, but other source of revenue is that the customers are jumping to a new plan, and that's, and it's better for them, better for us.

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. So that's more or less what we have in postpaid.

And in prepaid, well, we have disconnections and there are disconnections 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 still a long way to go there. But yes, people are, some people are not, people that are consuming are not also wants to register, but well, that's what we have there.

And I think at the beginning, we are 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 is taking more time to register their number. But at the end of the day, I hope and I don't think that people is going to stay without a phone or without connected because of the registration.

So it's going to take time. Maybe in the short term, we can have like a slowdown a little bit on the revenues on prepaid. But in the mid and long, then we're going to recuperate that. So that's what, that's the way I'm seeing things, okay? In the other side, on postpaid, things are going very well and people is consuming and upselling and doing good.

Just to add to what Daniel was saying, our ARPU, postpaid ARPU growth in Mexico in the quarter, we see that for the last three years, at least, we are seeing a continuous acceleration of postpaid ARPU growth, which is quite significant.

One follow-up, if I may. Regarding postpaid, I understand that these are mostly like 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?

Yes, we're having more corporate. The corporate is helping a lot on the fixed on all these data center cloud and all these services is growing very good this quarter in the fixed side and also is doing good in the mobile. So we are, yes, as you are asking, yes, it's being good the corporate customers.

David Lopes, New Street Research.

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 the, what's working well there and also comment on the ARPU growth this quarter and how sustainable this kind of performance is in Colombia?

Well, in Colombia, if we go back five years ago, when WOM enters, they do crazy promotions with a lot of data that carries all the market, well, that pass. 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 launched the, well, they sell the spectrum and we do, we start to do 5G since the beginning. So we don't have to wait to do the network. We already do and invest in the 5G network. So we were the first the starters 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.

Okay. Very clear. And maybe a quick follow-up. While you mentioned spectrum. What is the next big auction coming in your main markets, please?

Well, in which country?

Across all markets, which one will be the largest one coming?

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 other auctions. We don't need it at this time.

Ernesto Gonzalez, Morgan Stanley.

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 can discuss?

I think, well, I think we're doing very good in Ecuador. Ecuador is growing good. We have a strategy on quad-play. We're doing fiber. It cost us a lot of time to understand the fixed business in Ecuador. But I think we have been having like maybe two years doing good, increasing our fiber footprint, taking good customers, giving TV. So all of that is working good. And the economy of Ecuador is also improving. That's why we have a very good increase in the postpaid, sorry, prepaid ARPU also increasing revenues. So things are going better in the economy, and we are doing better in fixed and in mobile, starting also in corporate customers there. So while Ecuador has been doing good.

All Central America, we have outstanding results in Central America, growing in all the countries, moving a lot more on, 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 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.

As you mentioned, we are focused on the main agents that help us to reduce cost. And we are more focused on customer interactions and some part of the network that has been helping to reduce costs in call centers and maintenance in the network.

And contact the customer faster and solving the problem faster on the, 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 we're improving, and we have like a three-year plan to improve every day on all of these areas. So that's 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 company that we buy and consolidate as soon as possible in Peru also.

And Daniel was saying on Central America, just to give you an idea, revenue, service revenue growth in Central America in the quarter was 11.4% and EBITDA growth again in the region was 16.1%. Okay? Central America, which is a collection of small countries, as you say, but as a block. It's a very significant block. It is doing extremely well, and it's an area with very stable currencies and very resilient growth.

Emilio Fuentes, GBM.

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?

Well, I think, yes, it's, 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. 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 bundled 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.

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.

I just thank everyone for being in the call. Thank you very much.

Thank you all.

This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect.