In the midst of T-Mobile’s attempt to purchase UScelluar, the company has sold off a little more than $1 billion of spectrum that is not included in the deal.
T-Mobile and UScellular announced a deal in late May for the magenta carrier to purchase the regional wireless provider. The deal will T-Mobile bolster its coverage in rural regions, an area where it has traditionally lagged behind rival Verizon. In a letter to the FCC aimed at heading off regulatory challenges, UScellular said the T-Mobile deal was necessary to stave off an impending death spiral.
While the deal with T-Mobile continues to move forward, UScellular has continued with its plan to monetize assets and spectrum that T-Mobile is not interested in. As part of those efforts, the company has sold $1.018 billion of spectrum licenses to AT&T.
“We are pleased with the significant value that will be realized in the various transactions recently announced,” said Laurent C. Therivel, UScellular President and CEO. “This agreement adds a fourth mobile network operator, in addition to T-Mobile, to the list of those whose subscribers will benefit from the sale of our spectrum licenses. As with the other mobile network operators, we are confident that AT&T can put it to productive use in communities throughout the U.S. Furthermore, the terms of the agreement will ensure that there will be continued, uninterrupted service for UScellular customers in the interim.”
The deal helps UScellular cross the halfway point in its efforts to monetize spectrum that is not included in the T-Mobile deal.
Following this transaction, as well as those previously announced, UScellular will have reached definitive agreements to monetize approximately 55%, measured on a MHz-Pops basis, of the spectrum holdings (excluding mmWave) that were excluded from the proposed sale to T-Mobile, for a total consideration of approximately $2.02 billion. Including the proposed T-Mobile transaction, UScellular will have reached agreements to monetize approximately 70% of its total spectrum holdings (excluding mmWave), measured on a MHz-Pops basis.
“After our proposed sales, we will be left with 1.86 billion MHz-Pops of low and mid-band spectrum, as well as 17.2 billion MHz-Pops of mmWave spectrum, with the substantial majority of retained value in the C-band spectrum,” added Therivel.
“The C-band licenses have a number of attributes that we believe are favorable to their long-term value. First, our C-band licenses are positioned in an attractive mid-band frequency that can deliver outstanding speed and capacity. Second, there is a substantial 5G ecosystem of equipment vendors and existing infrastructure that uses C-band. Finally, they have a lengthy build-out timeline, with first and second build-out dates of 2029 and 2033, respectively. This provides ample time and optionality for us to either monetize or deploy the spectrum in the future. We will continue to look for ways to opportunistically monetize the C-band, as well as the other remaining spectrum.”
The deal will give AT&T spectrum in the low and midband range.
The agreement with AT&T includes the sale of 1,250 million MHz-Pops of 3.45 GHz and 331 million MHz-Pops of 700 MHz B/C block licenses for a total of $1.018 billion. The purchase price is payable in cash and subject to certain potential adjustments, as specified in the purchase agreement.
The midband, in particular, is coveted spectrum since it provides the best balance of speed, range, and building penetration for 5G networks. AT&T has lagged behind T-Mobile and Verizon in its 5G deployment, so the new spectrum should help boost its efforts.
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