Virgin Mobile Latin America appointed Brazil bank BTG Pactual to investigate the sale of the business, which operates MVNOs in Mexico, Columbia and Chile, El Financiero reported.

Telefonica – parent of the MVNO’s Movistar host networks – was reportedly in preliminary talks to acquire the entire business, but negotiations came to nothing. The news website’s sources added other suitors had since emerged, with the company said to be worth around $300 million.

Virgin Mobile Latin America, which is backed by Virgin among a number of other stakeholders, sold its Peru operation in 2017.

Following initial launches in Chile during 2012 and Columbia in 2013, the company talked up its prospects of becoming a major challenger on the continent with plans to launch in Brazil and Mexico.

While the Mexico operation went live in 2014, its service in Brazil failed to materialise.

According to El Financiero figures, despite efforts to make an impact in Mexico, the largest mobile market it operates in, it holds a 0.1 per cent market share. Recent estimates of its share in the other two markets are not publicly available.