Mexican media and telecommunications firm Grupo Televisa SAB (TV, TLEVISA.MX) said Friday that it has sold its 25% stake in airline Volaris for $80.6 million.

"Televisa made its first investment in Volaris in October 2005. Televisa's total investment was $49.5 million," the company said in a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange.

Volaris is a low-cost carrier that began operating in 2006, competing with incumbent airlines Mexicana de Aviacion and Aeromexico as well as budget carriers Interjet and Viva Aerobus.

Mexico's airline traffic fell 11% year-on-year to 31.25 million passengers in 2009 due to a deep recession and the A/H1N1 influenza outbreak that caused a flurry of flight cancellations.

Volaris fared better than its peers, reporting a 0.9% drop in traffic to 3.33 million passengers.

Televisa's divestiture of its Volaris stake comes ahead of a major investment in the telecommunications industry.

Televisa plans to invest $1.44 billion for a 30% stake in Nextel Mexico, a unit of NII Holdings Inc. (NIHD), if the two obtain sufficient wireless frequency in an ongoing government auction.

Televisa aims to expand its telecommunications offerings, which already include Internet and fixed-line phone service through its cable TV holdings, to include mobile telephony.

The CPO shares of Televisa, Mexico's No.1 television broadcaster and the largest producer of Spanish language content in the world, fell 2% to close at MXN47.56 on Friday.

-By Ken Parks, Dow Jones Newswires; 52-55-5980-5177; ken.parks@dowjones.com