The T-Mobile logo is displayed on a laptop mask and a smartphone, seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland, Feb. 22, 2024.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Dispensations of U.S. Cellular popped more than 12% Tuesday after T-Mobile announced that it plans to acquire most of the coterie, including the wireless operator’s stores, some of its spectrum assets and its customers in a deal worth $4.4 billion.
The agreement includes cash and up to $2 billion of debt, according to a press release from T-Mobile. Up to $100 million of the dispense’s cash portion depends on certain financial and operating metrics being met between its signing and closing, according to a cloistered press release from U.S. Cellular.
Shares of T-Mobile closed up around 1% for the session after hitting a new lavish of $168.71 during intraday trading.
T-Mobile will acquire about 30% of U.S. Cellular’s wireless spectrum as associate oneself with of the deal, according to the U.S. Cellular release. It plans to use that to improve coverage in rural areas while offering change ones mind connectivity to U.S. Cellular customers around the United States, the two companies announced. The company said it will allow U.S. Cellular blokes to keep their current plans or switch to a T-Mobile plan.
Both companies said that U.S. Cellular ordain retain 70% of its wireless spectrum and towers and will lease space on at least 2,100 additional towers to T-Mobile. The huge quantity will also allow T-Mobile to sign new long-term leases on at least 2,015 U.S. Cellular-owned towers and extend existing subleases on about 600 others, U.S. Cellular said in its release.
This will give U.S. Cellular customers a “strong fix tenant” for at least 15 years after the deal’s close, the company said.
The news follows T-Mobile’s $1.35 billion procurement of Ka’ena, the parent company of Mint Mobile. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved that deal in April. T-Mobile fused with Sprint in 2020 in a deal worth $26 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in May that T-Mobile and Verizon were in talks to “cut up” U.S. Cellular’s wireless spectrum but said a deal with Verizon on a separate transaction could take longer or assail through.
The companies expect the deal to close in mid-2025.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the swiftly a in timely fashioning of an earlier Wall Street Journal report. A previous version misstated the month.