Argentine telco Telecentro looks to raise US$400mn

Medium-sized Argentine telco Telecentro announced a round of financing with the aim of raising US$400mn to migrate its cable modem networks to fiber optics and increase coverage.

Bank of America was selected as the placement bank, according to local outlet Infobae. Further details were not provided other than to say the round will be open to financial institutions, investors and strategic partners.

The company has already begun the network conversion with US$120mn of its own funds, the report said. The migration is expected to be completed in about five years.

Telecentro offers telephony, broadband and pay television services in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires.

In addition, it is licensed as a virtual mobile operator, although it is not currently providing the service.

Last year, the company announced an agreement with Nokia to transform its network to improve capacity and meet traffic growth.

Although the telco's data is not public, it is estimated that it has around 2mn customers, according to figures published by newspaper Clarín last year.

SION

In August, mid-sized operator Sion raised more than US$13mn in an infrastructure trust fund placement with the aim of financing the deployment of fiber optics in the networks the company shares with Movistar.

The funds will be used primarily in the provinces of Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz.

Telefónica’s Movistar and Sion have shared broadband networks since 2021. At the time, Movistar announced that it would use Sion’s networks to migrate 250,000 homes that were still using copper cables.

Sion has deployed the first fiber optic network in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia, in Santa Cruz, in partnership with Movistar. The infrastructure has more than 43,000 homes served and almost 12,000 customers connected to the newly deployed fiber network.

Sion also has a program underway to issue bonds for up to nearly US$20mn. In the latest issue, for 3bn pesos (US$3mn), the company received 26 offers for a total of 5.81bn pesos.

Within the framework of this program, the company presented a project to deploy a cable modem internet access network through commercial alliances and interconnection with the pay TV networks of small cable operators.

The company aims to increase its portfolio in the interior of the country in the coming years.