AT&T announced a $2.5 billion acquisition that will make it the first ever company to span both the U.S. and Mexico, Bloomberg reported.

"Our acquisition of Iusacell is a direct result of the reforms put in place by President Pena Nieto to encourage more competition and more investment in Mexico," AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said in a statement.

The Mexican President signed a telecommunications overhaul into law four months ago that promotes competition and tightens oversight of the telecommunications industry.

Iusacell is currently owned 50 percent by Grupo Salinas, the company of billionaire Ricardo Salinas, and the remainder 50 percent will be bought out by the group before the transaction is finalized with AT&T.

When the move is completed by AT&T, the telecommunications giant will acquire wireless properties of Iusacell including licenses, network assets, retail stores and about 8.6 million subscribers, according to AT&T. It is also acquiring $800 million in debt from the Mexican company.

Iusacell is the third-largest provider in Mexico and has been unable to successfully compete locally with Carlos Slim's America Movil SAB, Bloomberg reported.

AT&T is already expanding into Mexico, after it agreed to pay $48.5 billion for DirecTV, which provides satellite service in the U.S. and Latin America.

AT&T Chief Strategy Officer John Stankey told Bloomberg the move was a strong one, since Mexico is open for business and competition, and not taking advantage of the opportunities would be a mistake for AT&T.

Mexico has the second-highest GDP per capita in Latin America, according to AT&T.

"Mexico is still in the early stages of mobile Internet capabilities and adoption, but customer demand for it is growing rapidly," Stephenson said. "This is an opportunity for us to provide Iusacell the financial resources, scale and expertise to accelerate the roll-out of world-class mobile Internet speeds and quality in Mexico, like we have in the United States."

AT&T is the second-largest mobile phone carrier in the U.S. and has been boosted by their sales of the Apple iPhone products in recent years.