Spotlight: The future of WOM in Colombia and Chile

Troubled telco operator WOM could be sold in Chile while in Colombia there is speculation about its liquidation after, like the former unit, it filed for bankruptcy protection. 

WOM Chile did so in the United States while WOM Colombia chose the insolvency process under local laws.

The process that the Chilean subsidiary faces in the US contemplates the possibility of obtaining an investor for the company. “The debtors and their advisors have received expressions of interest from both strategic and financial institutions that are interested in acquiring the debtors' assets,” a document related to the reorganization process states.

According to the document, WOM Chile, with 8mn users, has "significant value that has not yet been realized."

In recent statements to local press, the CEO of WOM in Chile, Martín Vaca Narvaja, said the objective is “to generate the greatest possible value for WOM and there is a solution, which may be a debt restructuring, the entry of a new investor or a combination of both.”

Last month, WOM secured the release of US$100mn of a US$200mn loan the company obtained from JP Morgan.

Meanwhile, the operator is renouncing spectrum concessions in the 26GHz band. Regulator Subtel authorized the return because the deadline for starting services had not yet expired and exploitation of the resource had not begun.

According to Subtel records, no request for receipt of base station works and installations authorized by the decrees granting the concessions has been received from WOM. The reality is that operators have not yet found a business model for that band and prefer to concentrate their efforts on the development of 5G in the 3.5GHz band.

Meanwhile, in Colombia media is speculating about the liquidation of WOM and migration of its users to other operators after ICT minister Mauricio Lizcano told journalists that the government was not willing to rescue the company.

On July 2, the industry and commerce regulator SIC indicated that to date it had not received "information regarding a possible suspension or termination of the provision of services to WOM users, nor a migration plan in order to safeguard the aforementioned rights."

The insolvency process continues in the companies regulator.

In March, WOM was ranked as the second mobile internet operator in Chile with 25.2% of the market, below Entel with 31%. Movistar was in third place with 20.3%, followed by Claro with 17.3%, according to the latest data from Subtel.

In Colombia, the latest market figures, as of December, indicate that WOM had just 6.8% of the mobile market, behind Tigo (17.4%), Movistar (24.6%) and leader Claro with 45%. ETB and Virgin Mobile complete the market with 0.3% and 3.3%, according to the latest data from ICT ministry Mintic.