Context: How Bolsa de Valores de Asuncion works, and what it makes issuers disclose · Paraguay on the LatAm Power Map
Paraguay’s dominant telecom — mobile, pay-TV, home internet and digital payments, all under the Tigo brand — is quietly one of the most deeply rated corporate credits in the country, fully owned by a Luxembourg-based multinational and run by a Paraguayan who spent his whole career inside the same company.
| Full name | Telefónica Celular del Paraguay S.A.E. (TELECEL S.A.E.) |
| Ticker / exchange | TEL.PY — Bolsa de Valores de Asunción (bond issuer; no equity free-float) |
| Headquarters | Fernando de la Mora, Departamento Central, Paraguay |
| Sector | Telecommunications |
| Employees | >3,000 direct (company statement, March 2024) |
| Market value | Not published: TEL.PY lists debt instruments only; no publicly traded equity. The parent, Millicom (NASDAQ: TIGO), carried a market cap of ~USD $8 billion as of mid-2024. |
| Quarterly revenue (Q1 2024) | Gs$1,031,944 million (≈ USD $170 million) — most recent period reported by Feller Rate from company data |
| Q4 2024 revenue | USD $136 million (Millicom group disclosure, +4.7% year-on-year) |
| Net margin / Op. margin | Operating margin: 20.9% (Q1 2024), 12.6% (FY2023); EBITDA margin 42.4% (Q1 2024), 36.0% (FY2023) |
| Financial debt (Dec 2023) | Gs$5,630,342 million (≈ USD $929 million — our calculation) |
| Cash (March 2024) | Gs$756,641 million (≈ USD $125 million — our calculation) |
| Credit rating (Paraguay scale) | AAApy / Stable (Feller Rate, May 2024) — highest possible local rating |
| Price-to-earnings / Dividend yield | Not published: no listed equity; dividend policy is 100% payout to parent, currently paused to support debt refinancing |
| Website | tigo.com.py |
What it is
Telecel is the leading telecommunications company in Paraguay, and the largest provider of mobile telephony, pay television and home internet — all delivered under the Tigo brand. Mobile voice and data is its biggest earner, representing 64.7% of consolidated revenues as of Q1 2024; the rest comes from pay-TV, home broadband, digital financial services and device sales.
Its market position is dominant by any measure: as of March 2024, Telecel held a 54.5% share of the mobile market, 62.0% of pay-TV subscribers and 40% of home internet connections. By end-2023 it served roughly four million mobile lines and nearly 500,000 homes with broadband or pay-TV.
Beyond connectivity, the company runs digital financial services through Mobile Cash Paraguay — Paraguay’s leading electronic payments platform — and operates Tigo Sports, a cable channel that produces and broadcasts domestic football.
Who owns it
Millicom International Cellular S.A. holds 100% of Telecel — full control, no minority shareholders on the equity side. Millicom is a Luxembourg-headquartered group that trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker TIGO.
Its own controlling shareholder is Xavier Niel, the French billionaire, who holds approximately 46% of Millicom.
On the Asunción exchange, Telecel lists debt instruments only; a key aim of that programme is to replace dollar-denominated debt with local-currency debt in order to cut foreign-exchange risk and improve results. There is no public equity float in Paraguay.
Who runs it
Roberto Laratro, a Paraguayan, was named general director (CEO) of Tigo Paraguay and assumed the role on 1 June 2024, replacing Carlos Blanco who moved to lead Tigo Colombia. Laratro built his entire career inside the Millicom group, joining the Paraguay operation 17 years ago and rising through multiple roles before serving as general manager of Tigo Nicaragua from 2018.
At the parent level, Millicom named the Paraguayan Marcelo Benítez as its global CEO, also effective 1 June 2024 — the first time a Paraguayan has led the multinational. Not published: the CFO and board chair of TELECEL S.A.E.
specifically are not named in the company’s filings available on the Bolsa de Valores de Asunción or the Superintendencia de Valores (SIV) pages reviewed; Paraguay’s securities regulations (CNV Resolution CG N°6/19, Title 23) require disclosure of material facts and periodic financial statements but do not mandate publication of individual board-member names in the brief “hecho relevante” notices that constitute Telecel’s main public filings.
The money, in plain words
In the first quarter of 2024, Telecel brought in Gs$1,031,944 million in revenue (≈ USD $170 million), 3.0% more than the same quarter a year earlier, driven mainly by stronger mobile services. The company closed all of 2024 with Q4 revenue of USD $136 million, up 4.7% year-on-year, propelled by mobile and business-to-business growth.
On profitability, the operating margin — the share of each guaraní of sales left after running costs — was 20.9% in Q1 2024, recovering sharply from 12.6% for the full year 2023, as lower operating costs flowed through. The cash-generation margin (EBITDA margin) was an impressive 42.4% in Q1 2024 versus 36.0% for FY2023 — comfortably high for a telecom in a competitive developing market.
The main financial tension is debt: at end-2023 Telecel carried Gs$5,630,342 million in financial liabilities (≈ USD $929 million — our calculation), having fallen 2.4% over the year as the company repaid obligations. Total financial debt ran at 7.5 times equity by March 2024 — down from 8.2 times a year earlier, but still high relative to peers and flagged as a constraint on its credit rating.
The company holds cash of Gs$756,641 million (≈ USD $125 million — our calculation), giving net debt of roughly USD $804 million (our calculation).
Telecel’s policy has historically been to pay out 100% of profits to its parent as dividends; that policy has been made flexible in the near term so the company can prioritise refinancing its debt stack rather than distributing cash upward. That is a deliberate trade-off: owners accept no cash now in order to strengthen the balance sheet.
What it is doing now
In June 2025, Telecel launched the Series 7 of its global bond programme (G2) on the Asunción exchange, rated AAApy Stable — the highest possible rating in Paraguay. The explicit purpose is to swap expensive dollar debt for cheaper local-currency guaraní debt, reducing the company’s exposure to currency moves.
At the group level, Millicom signed a memorandum of understanding with Paraguay’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce to open a School 42 technology campus in Asunción by 2027 — it would be the first such campus in Spanish-speaking Latin America. Meanwhile, Paraguay’s telecom regulator CONATEL is moving toward a 5G frequency auction (3.5 GHz band), which will demand significant capital investment from Telecel and its rivals.
This is news, not investment advice.
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