America Movil reported a 13.7 per cent increase in net income during Q3, as the Mexico-headquartered operator group booked increased service revenue and subscriber numbers across its mobile units.

The company posted a profit of MXN18 billion ($897.6 million), up from MXN15.8 billion in the corresponding period of 2021, when negative foreign exchange rates adversely impacted its performance.

America Movil added 2.9 million wireless subscribers in Q3, while mobile service revenue rose 9.7 per cent when adjusted for constant exchange rates. The company stated the growth is its fastest in at least five quarters.

As in Q2, the transfer of users from defunct Brazil operator Oi to America Movil’s local operation at the start of May aided the mobile statistics.

In Brazil, mobile service revenue increased 22.5 per cent year-on-year.

The company also indicated revenue from post-paid mobile services accelerated in each of the last two quarters, in part because of take-up of new 5G services.

Around 1.9 million of the new mobile subscribers were post-paid, of which half came from Brazil. Mexico led the way in prepaid, with 402,000 new customers.

Including its fixed, TV and other business units, revenue increased 1.8 per cent to MXN214.5 billion.

In terms of major events during Q3, America Movil noted a tower company it created in August began trading on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) on 29 September. The operator also transferred net debt in the amount of $2.3 billion to Sitios Latinoamerica.

Earlier this month, America Movil and Liberty Latin America won regulatory approval to combine their respective Chilean mobile, fixed and TV operations into a jointly-owned venture.

Alfredo Parot from Claro Chile was subsequently appointed CEO of the new ClaroVTR joint venture.