T-Mobile is buying US Cellular’s wireless business and certain frequency assets in a $4.4 billion deal, further consolidating the industry.
Under the agreement, T-Mobile will receive US Cellular’s wireless operations and roughly 30% of the spectrum assets in several frequency bands. T-Mobile can even enter right into a recent master license agreement for greater than 2,000 towers and extend the lease term for the roughly 600 towers where T-Mobile is already a tenant.
“By combining UScellular’s network resources with ours, we can close gaps in connectivity, providing a better experience with more coverage and more capacity for all of our customers,” T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said in an announcement.
T-Mobile announced Tuesday that US Cellular customers will gain access to its 5G network, allowing them to enjoy higher coverage and speeds.
“Given the increasing competition and increasing capital intensity required to keep pace with the latest technologies, and following our careful and deliberate strategic review, we are confident that to continue to fulfill our mission, we require a level of scale and investment that can best be achieved by integrating our wireless operations with those of T-Mobile,” LeRoy Carlson Jr., chairman of US Cellular, said in an announcement.
The transaction includes a mixture of money and as much as $2 billion of assumed debt. Up to $100 million of the money component is contingent on the achievement of certain financial and operating metrics between signing and shutting.
US Cellular will retain roughly 70% of its spectrum portfolio across multiple frequency bands.
The deal was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of United States Cellular Corp. and Telephone and Data Systems Inc., a majority shareholder of US Cellular, and is anticipated to shut in mid-2025.
