America Movil is keen to sell off a portion of its assets to a major foreign player and to that end has made overtures to some of the world's biggest telecoms operators, it emerged this week.

The Mexican operator has contacted a string of "potential suitors", including AT&T, Softbank, Bell Canada and China Mobile, Bloombergreported on Tuesday.

Without naming its sources, the newswire said the assets, which will be carved from the telco's operations on Mexico's eastern coast, could be valued at US$17.5 billion, or five-to-seven times EBITDA.

None of the companies in question were willing to comment.

America Movil announced in July that it would sell an unspecified portion of its fixed and mobile assets in order to reduce its market share to below 50% with a view to persuading the regulator to grant it the right to offer pay TV services and in order to sidestep asymmetric regulations designed to boost competition.

Owner Carlos Slim later said he expects a foreign player to acquire the assets, leading to speculation over the identity of a possible buyer.

AT&T has frequently been mentioned since it is in the process of acquiring U.S. satellite operator DirecTV, which also has pay TV operations in Mexico.

Japan's Softbank is also an obvious candidate, given that it has just bought its way into the U.S. via Sprint and taking into account the lofty growth ambitions of its outspoken CEO Masayoshi Son.

Bell Canada and China Mobile are less likely names in the frame.

The Canadian operator might well be struggling to find much growth left in its home market, particularly given the government's drive to introduce new competition, but nonetheless it has shown little interest in any major overseas expansion.

China Mobile has made moves to break out of its home market, most recently closing the acquisition of an 18% stake in Thai operator True Corp, but a move into Mexico seems like a stretch too far.

According to Bloomberg's sources, while America Movil has made contact with the aforementioned telcos, it has yet to ask for bids and has not given the companies enough information about the available assets to enable them to make concrete offers.

The four telcos named are among the top 20 operators in the world by revenues, according to the 2014 issue of the Total Telecom Global 100, which is due to be published in the next couple of weeks. Click here to access last year's report.