The sale of Telefónica to Millicom in Colombia, a model to gain scale, investment and quality of service

The official decision includes measures to protect competition and recognizes that large investments are needed to achieve operational efficiency and expansion capacity, in a market where two large mobile telephone operators would remain.

The SIC Resolution has 177 pages and was known two weeks ago. There, measures requested by the new provider’s competitors, who demanded broad prohibitions on commercial strategies and even demands for the return of radio spectrum, are rejected.

In any case, the Colombian regulatory body proposes a series of requirements to guarantee competition and encourage investment of the new telecommunications service provider.

This operation, approved by the regulatory authority under criteria of transparency and protection of competition, gives birth to a more robust and sustainable player, within the framework of the Divestment process of Telefónica de España in the region.

The new company will have to compete with Of course, it concentrates more than 50% of mobile telephony in Colombia. In this scenario, the integration of Movistar and Tigo becomes a tool to sustain quality and guarantee competitive balance in the medium term.

This official decision came as a clear signal for telephone, Internet and pay TV service providers: instead of competing weakened, it is better to strengthen themselves with real scale, financial capacity and shared vision to be able to implement good coverage of the fifth generation of cellular telephones (5G), to expand fiber optic networks and provide new generation digital services.

“The merger will allow them to consolidate a single infrastructure that will reduce costs and improve operational efficiency,” he said at a press conference. Cielo Rusinque Urrego, president of the SIC. And he added: “The results of the savings will allow resources to be diverted to investments to increase the quality of service, the expansion of coverage and exercise effective competition over the largest operator.”

The official decision ensures continuity, network modernization and response capacity in the face of the growing demand for connectivity, to reduce the digital divide in urban and rural areas, where sustained investment is essential.

The logic behind the agreement is clear. It is not about absorbing or disappearing the other, but about integrate strengths to sustain investments which no smaller scale operator could guarantee separately. Instead of a fragmented market with weakened players, a scheme emerges where cooperation accelerates innovation and keeps real competition alive against a dominant leader.

The Colombian experience leaves an open question for the region: whether consolidation processes, accompanied by active regulatory frameworks and verifiable conditions, could contribute to avoiding the exit of actors, preserving investment and guaranteeing the continuity and modernization of the service, especially in countries with large connectivity gaps and growing demands for digital infrastructure.

With the process already enabled and under monitoring by the authorities, the expectation now focuses on the concrete results, their impact on quality, the expansion of networks and the competitive dynamics of the sector.