The mobile operator WOM Colombia confirmed that it has finalized the merger with Avantel, a move that had been in the making since last year.
In the company’s communication, WOM assures Avantel customers that this brand will no longer be able to be your operator and from September 26 these SIMs will stop working
This being the case, Avantel users will have to behave, if they so wish, to any of the other operators with a presence in the country and from now on they can start the process with the line they have been using.
It is also clarified that those who change companies they would lose the unconsumed balances and that in the case of WOM there will be a promotional package for those who choose that brand as an alternative; however, it remains to be seen if the other operators do the same.
In any case, users are recommended to complete the process before September 26 because otherwise they will lose their line number.
In addition, for those who decide not to transfer to another operator and have not finished consuming the prepaid balance in Avantel, there will be an option to redeem it at the country’s Effecty points, with the corresponding validation of the case.
controversial move
The announcement of this move had been made in May of last year, when WOM reported that it would initiate the process before the Supersociedades to advance a absorption melting process with Avantel.
This, in the middle of a business reorganization diligence in which Avantel was with different creditors. The company never took off in Colombia and then it was agreed that, with the merger, all your rights and obligations would be transferred to WOMas absorbing company.
Until now, both firms had been operating independently, but that did not free them from controversy. One of the main opponents of the business was Marcelo Cataldo, president of Tigo, who considered it a “change of cartel.”
“There is no new operator, there was one called Avantel and now it is WOM. What there is is a change of poster (…) for me they are the same company”, said Cataldo in an interview to this medium, the merger project was just known, and he also demanded the payment of Avantel’s obligations with Tigo.
It is that the debts that Avantel accumulated were millionaires. For example, the credits with Tigo mentioned at the time by Cataldo exceeded $40 billion.
In addition, Claro was no stranger to controversy. The operator denounced that the agreement between WOM and Avantel took place long before the market was informedexactly before the MinTIC spectrum auction that took place at the end of 2019.
And these are just two examples of the turmoil that the business has generated, since the list is long.
It remains to be seen how the other companies will react to the consolidation of the merger. According to the MinTIC, as of December last year in the mobile internet market Claro ruled with 20.2 million accesses; Movistar had 8.5 million; Tigo had 6.6 million; and WOM, 1.3 million; further down was Avantel, with around 100,000.
