AT&T Continues Mexico Wireless Expansion With Bid for Nextel

AT&T's shares were down about 1 percent at $33.06 in early trading on the New York stock exchange.

NII Holdings, the parent of Nextel operators in Latin America, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in September after struggling with $5.8 billion in debt and fierce competition inBrazil and Mexico.

AT&T plans to combine Nextel Mexico with Iusacell, which the company acquired in November for $1.7 billion.

While Nextel Mexico has about 3 million subscribers, Iusacell, Mexico's third-largest wireless operator, has over 8 million subscribers.

"While there are logical . . .