Tigo-UNE 3Q 2025 Profits Soar 164% Year-on-Year, Win Merger OK With Movistar
Medellin-based telecom/internet/cable-TV provider Tigo-UNE – half-owner of the Colombian subsidiary of Spain-based multinational telecom network provider Millicom – on November 19 posted a 164% hike in third quarter (3Q) 2025 net income, hitting COP$38 billion (US$10.2 million), up from COP$14.7 billion (US$3.9 million) in 3Q 2024.
Revenues also rose 7.7% year-on-year, to COP$1.4 trillion (US$377 million), versus COP$1.35 trillion (US$363 million) in 3Q 2024.
The revenue hike was “primarily driven by our residential and B2B [business-to-business] digital segments,” according to Tigo-UNE.
“Furthermore, the company has continued to reduce operating costs and expenses, resulting in positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), which was higher than in the same quarter of 2024.”
Curiously, the company failed to disclose the line-item EBITDA results — neither in dollar nor peso amounts — for its mandatory quarterly earnings filing with Colombia’s Superfinanciera financial oversight agency.
Also during 3Q 2025, Tigo-UNE noted that “on September 3, a loan of COP$100 billion [US$27 million] was disbursed from Scotiabank. These funds were used to pay off a loan of COP$125 billion [US$33 million] from BBVA, whose original maturity date was September 25, 2025.
“Another important event was the payment of COP$46.9 billion [US$12.6 million] for the 2023 AWS [Amazon Web Services] license for 30 MHz in the [telecom subsidiary] Colombia Móvil S.A.”
On a parallel front, Colombia’s Industry and Commerce Superintendency (Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio, SIC) on November 14 gave its final approval for the merger of Tigo and Movistar.
The resulting merger gives Tigo a 41.5% share of Colombia’s national telecom market, second only to Mexico-based telecom giant Claro, which has 44.83% share of the Colombian telecom market.
Prior to the Movistar-Tigo merger, Movistar had a 23.3% share, while Tigo had an 18.2% share.
The two companies had convinced the SIC regulatory agency that unless they merged, they could not survive competing with Claro’s overwhelming dominance of the Colombian telecom market.
On a parallel front, Medellin’s City Council is moving ahead rapidly to sell its 50% shareholding in Tigo-UNE to its operating partner, Spain-based Millicom.
Since (regretfully, in hindsight) Medellin’s city-owned EPM utility formed a 50-50 joint venture with Millicom more than a dozen years ago, the Tigo-UNE joint venture subsequently posted millions of dollars of losses nearly every year — hence penalizing Medellin’s municipal finances.
Therefore, the current move by the Mayor and City Council to sell Medellin’s shareholding in what amounts to a volatile, keenly competitive telecom market is viewed as safeguarding city finances not only for the coming year but also for many years to come.
