UPDATE 1-America Movil aims to close sale of Tracfone to Verizon in third quarter

(Updates with quotes, background)

MEXICO CITY, April 28 (Reuters) - Mexico's America Movil said on Wednesday that it hopes to close the sale of its U.S. pre-paid mobile phones unit Tracfone to Verizon by the third quarter of this year.

Verizon announced last year that it would buy Tracfone, which serves about 21 million subscribers through more than 90,000 retail locations across the United States, in a $6.25 billion cash and stock deal.

"We're working very closely with Verizon and the regulatory authorities to get clearance on that transaction, and we think and we believe that this transaction will be closing in the third quarter of this year," Chief Executive Daniel Hajj said on a call after America Movil's first quarter results.

America Movil, controlled by the family of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, said on Tuesday net profit rose to 1.81 billion pesos ($88.7 million) in the quarter, compared with a loss of 28.9 billion pesos for the same period last year.

The company posted revenue of 248.19 billion pesos, down about 0.8% year-on-year.

America Movil executives said on the call they were working to obtain approvals in different countries for its planned tower spin-off entity focused on the development, construction and locations of the towers for mobile services.

The firm, which plans capital expenditure of $8 billion this year, said it is progressing with a 5G rollout. America Movil said in February that Mexico, its core market, would have 5G options by the end of the year.

"We have been working to implement 5G, virtualizing networks, putting fiber in the towers, putting the photonics in the backbone," Hajj said. "We are ready to launch 5G in many countries." (Reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Abraham Gonzalez)