América Móvil Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call - Free cash flow up 40%, priorities: deleveraging and steady 14-15% CapEx

Hillary, Conference Operator: Good morning. My name is Hillary, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the América Móvil fourth quarter 2025 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, please press star again. Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Miss Daniela Lecuona, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Daniela Lecuona, Head of Investor Relations, América Móvil: Thank you so much. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter results. We have today on the line, Mr. Daniel Hajj, CEO, Mr. Oscar Von Hauske, COO, and Mr. Carlos García Moreno, CFO. Thank you for joining us.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Thank you, Daniela. Welcome, everybody, to América Móvil fourth quarter 2025 report. Carlos is going to make us a summary of the results. Carlos?

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: Thank you, Daniel. Good morning, everyone. Well, the U.S. government shutdown, in effect through the middle of the fourth quarter, ended up raising uncertainty about the state of economic activity in the U.S. Not only did it have a direct impact on employment, but on account of the shutdown, several economic indicators generated by government agencies failed to be released at all. On December tenth, less than a month after the shutdown ended, and with still incomplete economic data, the Fed reduced the policy rate by 25 basis points in the absence of strong inflation pressures and the appearance of a softening economy.

The dollar depreciated versus practically all the currencies in our region of operations in the quarter, except for the Brazilian real, the Argentine peso, but it declined 2.3% versus the Mexican peso, 3.7% versus the Colombian peso, and 5.7% versus the Chilean peso, remaining practically flat versus the euro in the quarter. Well, we added 2.5 million wireless subscribers in the quarter, 2.8 million postpaid net gains, and 298,000 prepaid losses, and ended up December with 331 million wireless subscribers. Our postpaid base was up 8.4% year-on-year.

Brazil led the way in terms of postpaid net add with 644,000 subscribers, followed by Colombia, with 276,000, Peru with 148,000, and Mexico with 135,000 postpaid subscribers. Now, in the prepaid segment, Mexico contributed 197,000 new subscribers, Argentina, 226,000, and Colombia, 224,000. Whereas in Brazil and Chile, we had prepaid losses of 381,000 and 315,000 subscribers, respectively. In the fixed line segment, we connected 5,240 broadband accesses, 184,000 in Mexico, 133,000 in Brazil, 57,000 in Argentina, and 49,000 in Colombia. Pay TV posted a good performance, adding 77,000 units. We disconnected 79,000 voice lines, landlines.

Our access lines exceeded 4.1 million at the end of December. 331 million were wireless subscribers, 79 million were fixed-line RGUs. The growth of our mobile postpaid base and our broadband accesses, which you can see in the chart, our more dynamic business lines, have been accelerated over the last quarters, with that of postpaid reaching an 8.4% year-on-year increase and broadband accesses expanding 5.6%. So these are some of our highest access growth rates in years. Fourth quarter revenue rose 3.4% in Mexican peso terms from a year ago to MXN 245 billion. They were up 6.2% at constant exchange rates, with service revenue expanding 5.3%.

The difference between the rate of growth in nominal terms versus that at constant exchange rates mainly reflects the 9.6% appreciation relative to the year, the quarter, or the Mexican peso versus the US dollar. The apparent deceleration of service revenue growth, which extends to most revenue categories, extends from the incorporation of our Chilean operation from November 2024. EBITDA was up 4.2% in Mexican peso terms to MXN 95 billion, and it was up 6.9% at constant exchange rates from the yearly quarter. As was the case over several quarters in 2022, 2024, EBITDA expanded more rapidly than revenue on greater operating leverage. Mobile service revenue growth remained strong at 6.2%, supported by postpaid revenue that was up 7.6%.

Prepaid revenue growth maintained the pace in the entire quarter, which was the fastest in at least 5 quarters, and with the exceptional developments here in Mexico. As you can see in the next chart, with Mexico accelerating from 2.38% to 3.8% on the back of a strong recovery of private consumption in the country. Fixed line service revenue was up 3.6% year-over-year-

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: ... with fixed broadband revenue increasing 6.4%. The non-Chilean operations were growing faster over the last couple of quarters, which you can see in the dotted green line. Mexico performed well, with broadband revenue growth rising from 2% to, really, 4%. Our operating profit totaled MXN 49 billion. It was up 5.9% in nominal terms and 8.3%, 8.3% at constant exchange rates, while our comprehensive financing costs were roughly half those of the yearly quarter. This resulted in a net profit of MXN 19 billion in the quarter, which was 4 times larger than that of a year before. It was equivalent to MXN 0.32 per share, or $0.35 per ADR.

Our operating cash flow for the year 2025 came in at MXN 213 billion, after deducting from our EBIT after leases, sixteen billion pesos increase in working capital and MXN 82 billion in interest payments and taxes. After CapEx, in the amount of MXN 131 billion, we were left with a free cash flow of MXN 82 billion. The latter figure represents a nearly 40% year-on-year increase in our free cash flow. Shareholder distributions reached MXN 45 billion, including MXN 12 billion in share buybacks, even as we reduced our net debt and cash flows by MXN 20 billion. At the end of the year, our net debt to EBIT after leases ratio stood at 1.52x and was on a downward trend.

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

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: Thank you, Carlos. We can start with the Q&A session.

Hillary, Conference Operator: Thank you so much. We’ll now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you’d like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star one again. Please pick up your handset when asking a question, and if you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Marcelo Santos at J.P. Morgan. Marcelo, please go ahead.

Marcelo Santos, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Carlos, Oscar, Daniela, thanks for taking my question. I wanted to inquire about the CapEx outlook for 2026 and coming years. Could you please provide us with an updated view? Thank you.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Hi, Marcelo. What we have been doing is that what we think, we’re not still finalizing the CapEx for this year, but our target is to be around 14%-15% revenues. That is what we have been saying, and it’s what we’re gonna do. That’s maybe around $6.8 billion-$7 billion. That, that’s what I mean, and that’s what we’re targeting to do. So we are gonna be in those range. We still doesn’t, does not finalize all the countries, but we’re looking to have around that number.

Marcelo Santos, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Okay, thank you. As, as a follow-up, going forward, is it reasonable to assume a similar percentage of revenues for the coming years? I know you have not finalized, but just, just conceptually, does it make sense?

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Yes, yes. Yes, is what we think.

Marcelo Santos, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Okay.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: The next three years, let’s say 2-3 years, yes, we can assume that we can have between 14%-15%, $7 billion, $6.8 billion, $7.1 billion. Depending on spectrum, depending on a lot of things that coming, but that’s more or less what we’re thinking.

Marcelo Santos, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Okay, very clear. Thank you very much.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Thank you.

Hillary, Conference Operator: Thank you for your question. Your next question comes from Rogerio Araujo. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: Hi, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity. I have one on... There is a line called pre-tax, non-operating expenses. It came at MXN 7.9 billion this quarter. This is well above the quarterly average of MXN 700 million in the past couple of years. So could you please remind what enters exactly in this line? What did impact it this quarter? And also, what to expect going forward? Thank you so much.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Which, which line? In which line, you said?

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: Non-operating. It’s within financial results. It’s called other pre-tax, non-operating expenses.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Mm-hmm.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: The other financial expense.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: We don’t have it right now, but you can talk to Daniela. We can give you the detail on what was the difference between 4.9-7.8 this year, this quarter.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: ... Okay, no worries. I will. Thank you. Can I follow up with another question as-

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Yes, yes, please.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: There, there was no answer on this one. Yes? Okay. Thank you so much for-

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Yes, please.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: -for this.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: No worries.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: Could you comment on Telefónica’s announced sale of its operations in Chile, why América Móvil and Entel ended up stepping out of the deal? And any early expectation of the expected competitive environment in the country with Millicom and French buying these assets? If you could also comment on potential consolidation movements across Latin America as well, if there is anything active, and expectations for consolidation in the near future. Anything you can share would be great. Thank you so much.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Well, you know that we were going together with Entel to do a bid for Telefónica. We review and we decide not... In América Móvil, we decide no go, finalize and don’t go together with Entel. So that’s, I think then I don’t know if Entel decide to go alone or not, then it was one. The other one that I heard that it was interested, and then Millicom. Finally, Millicom is the one who win. I think we still have a lot of things to do in our company inside Chile. We are doing okay. We’re gaining revenues, we’re gaining market share. We are doing all the investments that we need, all the synergies that we need.

So, we still think that we’re gonna be a very strong and good competitor in Chile. For us, it doesn’t change a lot because as the competitor landscape changes, it will be very good to consolidate the market, but at the end of the day, Millicom is a new entrant, so it doesn’t change anything having Telefónica and to change to Millicom. Let’s see, I hope that in the future we can consolidate the market in Chile, not only in the wireless, also in the fixed. Let’s see, Chile, it will be important to be consolidated.

For us, why we were out, it was going to be a little bit complex because regulation, the split of the company, high leverage of the company, a lot of things that was going to be difficult to decide between Entel and us, and then the value of Telefónica. So it was not an easy deal, and that’s why we decided to quit and to stay where we are. But I think it’s that Chile is a difficult market. Of course, it’s a difficult market, but we are preparing, and we’re making all the investments and that we need to do to be competitive there. And as I said, hope that in the future the market in Chile can consolidate.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: Fair enough. Thank you so much. Have a great day, everyone.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Thank you. Thank you.

Hillary, Conference Operator: Thank you for your question. Your next question comes from Gustavo Faria from UBS. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Gustavo Faria, Analyst, UBS: Everyone, thanks for taking the question. I’d like to hear some thoughts on capital allocation. So given the strong growth in free cash flow, and we also saw a slowdown in share buybacks lately, so, how are you thinking about capital allocation going forward? Thank you.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Well, I think, as Carlos said, Carlos said two things: We do very good growth in the free cash flow. We grow around 40% in the free cash flow. But he also said that, if the target that we have, and always we’re saying that the target on debt to EBITDA will be around 1.3-1.5 times debt to EBITDA. So we are a little bit above. So when you said we are reducing, I don’t know if you are saying we are reducing in 2026 or we’ll reduce from 2025, but it’s important. We have a target and on leverage, and we want to be on our target. So that’s one thing.

The excess and the cash flow that we have, we’re gonna put it on reducing debt. Second, we have some M&A. As we said, we used to have Telefónica in Chile, we are not there, but we still have a desktop in Brazil. We want to be financially healthy because we’re not looking on M&A in other countries, in other regions, or material ones. No, we’re not doing and looking on anything on that. In our region where we operate, I think there’s gonna be consolidation in the market, and we want to be prepared to consolidate, let’s say, small companies or small fiber companies, or there will be a lot of things. The competitive landscape in Latin America is changing.

We’re having new competitors... small ones are getting out. I hope no are new ones coming. So there is gonna be a lot of things through the next year or two years, and we want to be prepared, we want to be healthy, and we want to be on target, okay? Because, as we said, the target is 1.3-1.5. We are a little bit slightly above on that. So what we want is to be on target and use the cash flow for that, and also to return for the shareholders, and we’ll be on buybacks and dividends. So that’s mainly what we are gonna do on the free cash flow that we have, nothing else.

And as I said, we don’t have, or we’re not looking on going to other countries or the other outside of our region to do material things. No, because I read something this morning, so we are not thinking on doing nothing on that. Only to be prepared to have opportunities. I think we’re gonna have some opportunities in the region that we have. That’s what we have. So reducing debt-

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: Yeah.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: And more opportunities. Yes.

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: Yeah, just to follow-

Gustavo Faria, Analyst, UBS: Yeah, quick follow.

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: So, sorry. Just to follow up on what Daniel has said. You know, it, it’s important to note that we, at the end of the quarter, we’re still at a little bit, marginally higher than the 1.5 times net debt, EBITDA ratio that we have as our upper limit. Even though we paid down debt by MXN 20 billion, okay? With more than $1 billion throughout the year. So we did devote some important amount of cash to reduction of it, to remain within the limits that we have told the market, guided the market for the last five years. I mean, these are not new limits. Yeah.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Okay.

Gustavo Faria, Analyst, UBS: Yeah, very clear. Just a quick follow-up, if I may. So, considering what you just said, and considering that the consolidation in Chile is now out of the table, is it fair to assume that any, let’s say, cash flow that would be directed to M&A in Chile, is now redirected towards the leveraging?

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Towards what?

Hillary, Conference Operator: Nothing.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Well, as we said-

Gustavo Faria, Analyst, UBS: Deleveraging.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: As we said-

Gustavo Faria, Analyst, UBS: Deleverage.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Yes. If we don’t have anything else in M&A, of course, we’re gonna go through leverage. And if we have an opportunity, then we’re gonna do something there. So that’s, we don’t have something, we’re looking for a lot of things, small things in Latin America, where we are. And if not, then we’re gonna do leverage and be in the lower range of our targets to be prepared for opportunities. That’s what we have, no?

Gustavo Faria, Analyst, UBS: All right. Very clear. Thank you.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Yeah.

Hillary, Conference Operator: Thank you for your question. A reminder that if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star one again. Please pick up your handset when asking a question, and if you’re muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Our next question comes from César Medina at Morgan Stanley. César, your line is now open.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: Hi, thanks for taking my question. How should we think of the impact of FX on your overall results? I’m asking because, you know, the Mexican peso strength is very visible, and you’re exposed to different currencies, and your CapEx, and that also has sort of a high currency exposures. In net, how should we think of the impact on the cash flow?

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: So, César-

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: Okay, thanks.

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: I mean, I think, as you say, you know, this is a company that has many operating exchange rates, you know, in our revenue. And then we also have very different exchange rates on our debt. So, what we were talking about a little while ago in terms of the leverage ratio, that’s something that tends to move both because the EBITDA flows move in terms of, say, if you measure them in dollars or pesos, whatever. And but also the net debt itself also moves a lot in terms of dollars or pesos, precisely because we have all of these currencies. So, yes, it becomes a bit complex to manage these issues.

Now, net, net, and, and that’s, you know, why we always highlight here in the report, how we are doing at constant exchange rates, because, we need to take out all of the noise that is created by the exchange rates. But, yeah, I think, net, net, I think that we have a clear idea of how we manage the company. I think in terms of financial exposure, we manage our exposure to currencies, so we really have exposure only to three currencies, for the most part, three, four currencies. And in terms of the operating cash flows, well, that obviously has-

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: ... to do with. There’s nothing we do in that respect. There’s nothing that we do in terms of hedging cash flows. That’s something that just comes up as it is.

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: Yes, I’m sorry. And this is why, you know, for us, it’s always and going back to what we were saying in the prior question, we need to balance, on the one hand, the desire to do distributions, share buybacks, and also the need to adjust our leverage ratio by paying down some debt. And again, this is something that we cannot predict exactly from the beginning, because it has to do a lot with where the exchange will track. And, you know, they, you can see them at notice at some point, but also they are a reality.

They are there, and we are going to be measuring our Net Debt with staff, which we measure with the rating agencies, that we measure with you every time that we, that we publicly report what we need to be consistent with what we are doing.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Yes.

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: So balancing share buybacks, balancing capital, balancing the net leverage we have.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Exactly.

Carlos García Moreno, CFO, América Móvil: That’s...

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Exactly what Carlos is saying is a balance between the capital allocation. It will be reducing our leverage, returning to the shareholders via buybacks or dividends, and be healthy to be prepared if there is something in our regions that will come as an opportunity. So these three things, we’re gonna balance through all this year to be okay. So that’s mainly what we’re talking on the capital allocation.

Rogerio Araujo, Analyst: Thank you.

Hillary, Conference Operator: Thank you for your question. Your next question comes from Alejandro Azar, from GBM. Your line is now open.

Alejandro Azar, Analyst, GBM: Hi, good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking my question. This is just on the consolidation that we are seeing all over, all over Latin America, Colombia, Chile, Brazil. There’s even rumors of big players in Mexico being interested in AT&T. So my question is, how do you see the regulatory environment for AMX, as it seems that we are moving to a tighter market with 2, 3 players? Do you think we should see in 5 years, 10 years, less regulatory or less asymmetric regulation where AMX currently has one? Thank you.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Well, the only place where we have asymmetric regulation is in Mexico. All the other places, we don’t have any, any, let’s say, asymmetric regulation in all the other 20 countries that we operate. We don’t have any asymmetric regulation. It’s only in Mexico. What the... Your question is, how I see in 3-4 years is exactly what we’re saying. I see more consolidation in all these markets, and I think it’s gonna be good for the business to consolidate more or less. I think like not only in mobile, but in fixed, maybe five years or six years ago, there’s a lot of companies putting fiber, giving very in a lot of countries, fiber plus very aggressive promotions. I’m not seeing any more these companies putting fiber.

There are still companies that they are doing more competitors, but no new ones doing that. So they are seeing that the business, it’s not as easy as it look. So we are not seeing new competitors, let’s say, in terms of fiber. Then the other ones, maybe they are gonna consolidate between them, or they are gonna consolidate with other ones. So there’s gonna be a new landscape in all Latin America, and I think that’s gonna be good for us and for all the people who are staying here, no? That who staying in Latin America. In Mexico, what you say, rumors about AT&T, well, they are rumors.

The only thing that I can say is that AT&T is a very strong competitor, and if they sell to other ones, they are gonna be also a strong competitor. So nothing to say. So what we need is to do our job to have the best 5G network, the best quality, customer care, everything, systems, IT, AI, and to do everything that we need to do to compete against, or if still AT&T here, or if they sell to the other one. So that’s what. So exactly what I said in Chile, no? In Chile, we used to have a Telefónica as a competitor. Today is not gonna be Telefónica.

It’s a pity that we cannot consolidate this market because this market will be good to consolidate, but it’s gonna stay more or less the same with four competitors in mobile and the same in fixed. So let’s see if in the future we can consolidate that market. So that’s what... Yes. But Alejandro, what you’re saying, I mean, I do believe that you can see that there’s very much of a wave of consolidation happening in the world, you know? You look at Europe, there used to be many more players. In each one of the countries, there’s been a reduction, and this basically has to do with the dynamics of the industry.

This industry requires scale to get the returns for the investment, and when you have a very fragmented market, there’s no returns and no investment. Typically, players end up probably not in the best of shapes. So I think that this is an issue that is more and more taken into account by regulators and, generally, governments worldwide.

Alejandro Azar, Analyst, GBM: Okay. Thank you, thank you, thank you both for the answers.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Thank you. Thank you, Alejandro.

Hillary, Conference Operator: Thank you for your question. Your next question comes from Marcelo Santos at J.P. Morgan. Your line is now open.

Marcelo Santos, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Hi, thank you very much for the follow-up here. I just wanted to use this opportunity to ask about the Brazilian number portability. You mentioned in the release, like, that Brazil is seeing the same customer preference as evidenced by positive number portability trends, which indeed has been very strong and stronger than usual. My question is, is this portability that has been stronger mostly explained by NuCel, which you have the MVNO, or is it mostly explained by your, like, postpaid operation in Brazil? Just wanted to see what’s driving this strong portability, which we also see using the data. Thank you.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Yeah. I think they are both, okay? I—there’s no doubt that NuCel is helping us in number portability. And we’re doing very good with them. But in the other side, we are doing strong, and we have been growing more on revenues than our competitors in Brazil, and I think that’s good. Number portability plus new subscribers, we are doing okay. And the other thing that I’m seeing is that we are getting also very good ARPU subscribers. So we’re not only in the prepaid or in the low end, you know, we’re getting also good high-end subscribers. So, it’s been good. That’s what I can say. There’s no doubt that NuCel is helping us, but it’s not only NuCel.

There’s all the things that we have on the back of that that we have been doing that. We have been always gaining number portability through the year, and in the fourth quarter, it get strong because NuCel. So it’s been good, and we are a little bit more good, a little bit more better than what we used to be, is what I can tell you.

Marcelo Santos, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: So, just to clarify, the jump we saw in the fourth quarter, that could be attributed to NuCell? You were having very good portability across the year, that’s Claro, but the change we saw in more recent months, that would be NuCell?

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Part, not all, but part would be. Yes, part would be NuCel, but not all is, is NuCel. Also, it’s fourth quarter. Fourth quarter, a lot of people is changing. There’s new handsets that people want to change four handsets, so they want to do promotions. So there’s a lot of things.

Marcelo Santos, Analyst, J.P. Morgan: Okay, clear. Thank you very much.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Thank you.

Hillary, Conference Operator: Thank you for your question. Your next question comes from Emilio Fuentes at GBM. Your line is now open.

Emilio Fuentes, Analyst, GBM: Hi, thank you for taking my question. I’m wondering, given the stellar net adds you have had in Broadband Mexico, the recent quarters, how sustainable do you see this performance going forward, specifically as we reach a higher penetration for this service in the market? Thank you.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Yes. Yes, we see a good trend on the, on the net adds, within the last four quarters in, fixed broadband in Mexico. We have a very good promotions in the market that, the, the customers have received very well. The bundles with the, with the streaming, increasing the speed, so we see the same trend through the year, through this year, right? So we will see the bundles are working pretty, pretty good with the streaming video platforms, and the speeds that we’ve been delivering to the market are really good. We have 92% of the customers already with fiber, so we believe that, we will retain the customers. We, we believe the trend will be more or, more or less the same. Mm-hmm.

Emilio Fuentes, Analyst, GBM: Yeah. Thank you, Oscar.

Hillary, Conference Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Daniel Hajj for closing remarks.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Well, to thank everyone for being in the call, and thank you, Carlos, Daniela, Oscar. Thank you very much.

Alejandro Azar, Analyst, GBM: Thank you, all.

Daniel Hajj, CEO, América Móvil: Bye.