--- title: "M&A Monthly: October/November 2026" description: A monthly update on international retail telecom mergers and acquisitions, fueled by TeleGeography's GlobalComms Database. image: https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/M%26A%20Monthly.png --- [![TG\_LOGO](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/TeleGeography%20Hub%20Theme%20Nov%202025/images/TG_LOGO.svg)](https://www2.telegeography.com/) - [About](https://www2.telegeography.com/about-us) - [Research](https://www2.telegeography.com/our-research) - [Products](https://www2.telegeography.com/products) - [Solutions](https://www2.telegeography.com/solutions) - [Resources](https://resources.telegeography.com) [Log In](https://www.telegeography.com/login/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegeography.com%2Faccount%2Fhome%2Findex) [Contact](https://www2.telegeography.com/contact-us) ###### Data and Analysis Tools - [Cloud and WAN Research Service](https://www2.telegeography.com/cloud-and-wan-infrastructure) - [Data Center Research Service](https://www2.telegeography.com/data-center-research-service) - [GlobalComms Database](https://www2.telegeography.com/globalcomms-database-service) - [International Voice Report](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-report-and-database) - [IP Networks Research Service](https://www2.telegeography.com/ip-networks-research-service) - [ISP Navigator](https://www2.telegeography.com/isp-navigatorisp-navigator) - [Transport Networks Research Service](https://www2.telegeography.com/transport-networks) - [Network Pricing Database](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-pricing-database) - [WAN Cost Benchmark](https://www2.telegeography.com/wan-cost-benchmark) - [Product Passes](https://www2.telegeography.com/product-passes) ###### Consulting - [All Consulting Services](https://www2.telegeography.com/consulting) - [Submarine Cable Consulting](https://www2.telegeography.com/submarine-cable-consulting) ###### Maps - [All Map Services](https://www2.telegeography.com/map-services) - [Sponsor a Map](https://www2.telegeography.com/sponsor-a-map) - [License Map Data](https://www2.telegeography.com/license-geocoded-map-data) - [Cite a Map](https://www2.telegeography.com/cite-telegeography-map) - [Buy a Map](https://shop.telegeography.com/collections/telecom-maps/) ###### Industry - [Education](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-for-education) - [Enterprise](https://www2.telegeography.com/enterprise) - [Tech](https://www2.telegeography.com/tech) - [Telecom](https://www2.telegeography.com/telecom) ###### Case Studies - [AI + Retail Telecom Data](https://www2.telegeography.com/where-to-get-global-telecom-data) - [EXA Infrastructure](https://www2.telegeography.com/exa-infrastructure-case-study) - [Orange Wholesale](https://www2.telegeography.com/orange-wholesale-case-study) - [The European Commission](https://www2.telegeography.com/the-european-commissions-data-backed-approach-to-international-policy) [Back to Resources](https://resources.telegeography.com) # M&A Monthly: October/November 2026 ##### By [Tom Leins,](https://resources.telegeography.com/author/tom-leins) Oct 29, 2026 [Networks](https://resources.telegeography.com/tag/networks) [Retail](https://resources.telegeography.com/tag/retail) Welcome back to another edition of M&A Monthly, where TeleGeography's **[GlobalComms](https://www2.telegeography.com/globalcomms-database-service)** team tracks the deals that keep the world connected. Here's your essential round-up of October’s top telecoms takeovers and big-money buyouts. As October draws to a close, it’s Trick or Treat time for the world’s telecoms titans. Trembling telcos are knocking on regulators’ doors hoping for rubberstamped deals and in-market consolidation, only to be greeted by hard-to-swallow remedies and antitrust frights. Meanwhile, creaky legacy telcos worldwide are busy dressing themselves up as nimble 'techcos' in a bid to woo deep-pocketed private equity suitors and make off with a handful of candy cash.  [(Read last month's M&A Monthly here.)](https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-september-october-2026) ## North America This month, we’ll start in the U.S., where **SpaceX** founder Elon Musk seems determined to take on the role of telecom bogeyman—putting the frighteners on the established power-players with his increasingly plausible threats to launch a nationwide mobile network. Like a cellco Cerberus, the three-headed devil dog of **Verizon**, **AT&T** and **T-Mobile U.S.** have successfully dissuaded newcomers for decades, but after splashing out billions on the dormant frequencies previously held by **EchoStar**, Elon has struck [an $8 billion deal](https://graingp.com/grain-management-announces-definitive-agreement-to-sell-nationwide-800-mhz-spectrum-portfolio-to-spacex/) with private investment firm **Grain Management** to obtain a tranche of nationwide 800MHz spectrum. The airwaves in question were prized out of the cold, dead hands of **Sprint/Sprint Nextel** by T-Mobile several years ago and have been passed around like a grisly souvenir from a notorious crime scene ever since. In the meantime, if Elon fancies a genuine telecoms horror story before bed, he can talk to EchoStar head honcho Charlie Ergen, whose grand mobile dreams vanished in a puff of regulatory smoke. The ghostly traces of Charlie’s once-grand mobile ambitions are now confined to the echoey hallways of the U.S. bankruptcy courts... One U.S. asset that will not be changing hands is **Mega Broadband Investments Holdings (MBI, doing business as Vyve),** after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York [issued a Temporary Restraining Order](https://ir.cableone.net/news-events/investor-news/news-details/2026/Cable-One-Provides-Update-on-the-Pending-Purchase-of-Mega-Broadband/default.aspx) (TRO) that prohibits U.S. ISP **Cable ONE (Sparklight)** from acquiring the 55% of Vyve that it doesn’t currently own. The action was initiated by **CoBank,** a lender under Cable ONE’s existing credit agreement. It may be out of sight and out of mind, but CoBank rattled its chains by alleging that the payment of the MBI purchase price would constitute ‘a constructive fraudulent transfer’. To readers of a certain age, **EarthLink** may feel like the ISP equivalent of the stale Halloween candy at the back of the cupboard, but under the astute stewardship of **Trive Capital**—which partnered with EarthLink’s management in 2019 to carve out the business from its then parent company **Windstream** for $330 million—the company has quietly thrived, presiding over 500,000 fixed broadband and managed services customers nationwide. This month, **WaveDivision Capital (WDC)**, led by veteran broadband executive Steve Weed, along with **The Pritzker Organization (TPO)** and **Stephens Capital Partners (SCP)**, partnered with EarthLink’s management team to [acquire the Atlanta-based ISP](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wavedivision-capital-stephens-capital-partners-and-the-pritzker-organization-partner-with-management-to-acquire-earthlink-302910600.html). To underline the sporadically cannibalistic vibes that the U.S. broadband market sometimes gives off, WDC, TPO and SCP all entered into JVs with the aforementioned Cable ONE in a previous lifetime, notably the largely forgotten **Clearwave Fiber.** ## Latin America South of the border, **AT&T** has finally been spooked by the mobile market dominance of Carlos Slim-backed **Telcel** and cashed-in on its **AT&T Mexico** unit. The U.S. telecoms giant [agreed to sell the business](https://about.att.com/story/2026/att-to-sell-att-mexico.html) to media conglomerate **Grupo Televisa** and David Martinez-backed **Fintech Holdings** for $2 billion in cash at closing—subject to certain adjustments. The transaction’s expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Heading deeper into Latin America, Javier Milei’s Argentina has proven to be a bubbling cauldron of M&A in recent months. The chainsaw-wielding populist president surged to power in 2023 with promises to cut through regulatory red-tape. Somewhat ironically, he and his administration have spent recent years wrapping **Telecom Argentina (Personal)**—whose backers include the aforementioned David Martinez—in so much red-tape they look positively mummified! As a result, Buenos Aires-based B2B operator **Metrotel** [will pay $450 million](https://elpais.com/argentina/2026-09-10/telecom-se-desprende-de-seis-millones-de-clientes-para-completar-la-compra-de-la-filial-argentina-de-telefonica.html) to acquire six million mobile subscriptions and more than 200,000 fiber broadband accounts, as part of the divestment that Personal must undertake for the **National Competition Agency (Agencia Nacional de Competencia, ANC)** to authorize its 2025 acquisition of **Telefonica Argentina (Movistar)**. When factoring in VAT, the final price reaches $544 million. Metrotel, which will soon be in charge of stitching together this unsightly hodge-podge of assets—like a modern-day Dr Frankenstein—has witnessed a shareholder transplant of its own in recent weeks, with **Riverwood Capital Partners** and **Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Advisors**—which had co-owned the ISP since 2017—exiting the company’s shareholder structure ahead of the Personal divestment closing. [The new owners](https://www.infobae.com/economia/2026/10/09/metrotel-cambia-de-manos-luego-de-la-venta-de-telefonica-es-la-empresa-que-se-quedara-con-6-millones-de-clientes-de-telecom/) have been named as **Nippur Fiber Holdings** (51%) and **Beacon Fund** (49%). The first-named company is backed by local businessmen Luis Maria Blaquier and Sebastian Caputo, while the latter company is owned by U.S. investor Ralph Booth. Elsewhere in Argentina, Buenos Aires-based **Telecentro** has [closed its previously agreed $260 million deal](https://www.infobae.com/economia/2026/10/08/telecentro-oficializo-la-compra-iplan-cuanto-pago-sus-planes-para-el-futuro-y-que-pasara-con-los-clientes/) to acquire smaller fiber rival **IPLAN**. Confirming the closing of the deal, Alberto Pierri, majority shareholder of Telecentro, told La Nacion: ‘Telecentro is a family business that I founded 36 years ago, in July 1990, and we have maintained a profile of continuous investment. We have six million homes passed and a Tier IV data center. This business requires constant investment, and that’s what we’ve been doing.’ Interestingly, Mr Pierri indicated that—despite the change in ownership—the intention is to maintain both brands separately, saying: ‘There is no merger; we want to boost the growth of both \[companies\].’ ## Can AI help me stay up-to-date with M&A activity? We're glad you asked. If you’re looking for a quick overview and background information on a market, AI is a useful way to get an idea of what’s going on there. But it’s a good idea to double check those findings, as AI often cites sources that are not authoritative and are out-of-date, incomplete, or just plain wrong. [![Dont automate your critical intelligence](https://resources.telegeography.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Content/Content-Graphics/2026/Social%20Media/Dont%20automate%20your%20critical%20intelligence.png?width=475&height=271&name=Dont%20automate%20your%20critical%20intelligence.png)](https://www2.telegeography.com/where-to-get-global-telecom-data)AI tools are great at skimming the internet and sourcing data at lightning speed, but when it comes to telecom data, we often find that the articles cited by AI and fed into its answers are several years out of date—which means the facts, figures, and context to that information is also outdated. And as people who’ve dedicated our careers to sourcing, collating, and analyzing telecom data, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention AI’s tendency to hallucinate and make up wrong answers (and then backtrack when you call it out). [Take a look at how this plays out in market research.](https://www2.telegeography.com/where-to-get-global-telecom-data) ## Data on mobile markets, fixed broadband, fixed voice markets, and more At TeleGeography, we're the telecom data people—[![GlobalComms product 1.12 3](https://resources.telegeography.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Website/Product%20Screenshots/GlobalComms%20product%201.12%203.png?width=350&height=239&name=GlobalComms%20product%201.12%203.png)](https://www2.telegeography.com/globalcomms-database-service)the experts from whom industry leaders get their data. You can get more analysis like this (and the data behind it) with a subscription to TeleGeography's [GlobalComms Database](https://www2.telegeography.com/en/globalcomms-database-service). And with this subscription, you also get daily CommsUpdate emails: a curated telecom news service produced by our team.   [![See GlobalComms Database](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/594292/interactive-208716878756.png)](https://resources.telegeography.com/hs/cta/wi/redirect?encryptedPayload=AVxigLK6k3Eak2ph4QpOCf%2BtE7f5rQChxzLtLDsMRiG25FOz%2FHkxTQc39s4qBwdTMhfkRSZAQnJYrMvYjRO0VlFRHg%2FwYLsO3ZfiVgGt2ew0qoHrWqu4r2jbR4RcF89pYzgic42%2FTy0osfosVzZJRFTb81RY3En%2B2g0ZAL2Av3Z5kv4Ld2EbXlY3ysFvqtuhSxCF15Htpb8GA2vN98GBXwVMFF1ZmAzgKm%2BcIrlMp9xi8RVJ&webInteractiveContentId=208716878756&portalId=594292)   ![Tom Leins](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/tg-staff/tom-leins-telegeography-bw.png) #### Tom Leins Tom Leins is a Senior Research Analyst for TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. Based out of the company’s UK office, he also contributes to the company’s daily CommsUpdate newsletter, which includes his popular weekly MVNO Monday round-up. MVNO industry aside, Tom has developed a strong specialization in the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean, tracking mergers and acquisitions, spectrum auctions, regulatory developments, market opportunities, and growth trends. [View Tom Leins Work](https://resources.telegeography.com/author/tom-leins) ## Explore Related Content ![M&A Monthly: May/June 2026](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/M%26A%20Monthly.png) ###### Blog Jun 4, 2026 #### [M&A Monthly: May/June 2026](https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-may-june-2026) As we head into the remainder of Q2, M&A activity has certainly been on the rise across the global... [View More by Tom Leins](https://resources.telegeography.com/author/tom-leins) [Read Full Article](https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-may-june-2026) ![M&A Monthly: July/August 2026](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/M%26A%20Monthly.png) ###### Blog Jul 30, 2026 #### [M&A Monthly: July/August 2026](https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-july-august-2026) Welcome back to another edition of M&A Monthly, where TeleGeography's GlobalComms team tracks the deals... [View More by Tom Leins](https://resources.telegeography.com/author/tom-leins) [Read Full Article](https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-july-august-2026) ![M&A Monthly: August/September 2026](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/M%26A%20Monthly.png) ###### Blog Sep 3, 2026 #### [M&A Monthly: August/September 2026](https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-august-september-2026) Welcome back to another edition of M&A Monthly, where TeleGeography's GlobalComms team tracks the deals... [View More by Tom Leins](https://resources.telegeography.com/author/tom-leins) [Read Full Article](https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-august-september-2026) [![TG\_LOGO\_color\_horizontal\_SIMPLIFIED 1](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/TeleGeography%20Hub%20Theme%20Nov%202025/images/TG_LOGO_color_horizontal_SIMPLIFIED%201.svg)](https://www2.telegeography.com/) [Login](https://www.telegeography.com/login/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegeography.com%2Faccount%2Fhome%2Findex) [Contact Us](https://www2.telegeography.com/contact-us) ###### [About](https://www2.telegeography.com/about-us) - [Research](https://www2.telegeography.com/our-research) - [Products](https://www2.telegeography.com/products) - [Solutions](https://www2.telegeography.com/solutions) - [Demo](https://www2.telegeography.com/demo) ###### [Press](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-press) - [Events](https://www2.telegeography.com/telecom-events) - [Careers](https://www2.telegeography.com/careers) ###### [Resources](https://resources.telegeography.com/) - [Podcast](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast) - [Newsletter](https://www2.telegeography.com/subscribe-to-telegeography-emails) - - All Rights Reserved 2026 - [Privacy Policy](https://www2.telegeography.com/privacy-policy) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Tom Leins", "url" : "https://resources.telegeography.com/author/tom-leins" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-29T16:15:24.455Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-29T16:15:24.000Z", "headline" : "M&A Monthly: October/November 2026", "image" : [ "https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/M&A%20Monthly.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-october-november-2026", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/assets/telegeography/telegeography-logo-blog.png" }, "name" : "TeleGeography" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org/", "@type" : "WebSite", "image" : "https://www2.telegeography.com/hubfs/Website/assets/logo/telegeography-logo.svg", "name" : "M&A Monthly: October/November 2026", "potentialAction" : { "@type" : "SearchAction", "query-input" : "required name=search_term_string", "target" : "{search_term_string}" }, "url" : "https://resources.telegeography.com/mergers-acquisitions-october-november-2026" } ```