A T-Mobile store on Manhattan’s West Side
T-Mobile announced that it will acquire United States Cellular Corporation in a deal valued at $4.4 Billion
The deal is a continuation of consolidation in mobile network operators in the United States, following T-Mobile’s previous fusions with Sprint and Mint Mobile parent Ka’ena. T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint made it the third-largest mobile operator in the United States.
T-Mobile said that includes “substantially all” of U.S. Cellular’s wireless operations, which will include its customers and stores as well as “certain specified spectrum assets.” U.S. Cellular customers will gain access to T-Mobile’s 5G network and its plans.
United States Cellular Corporation, which does business as UScellular and was formerly known as U.S. Cellular, is a mobile operator that is a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, known as TDS, which owns an 84% state. U.S. Cellular, which is the fourth-largest mobile operator, was formed in 1983 and is headquartered in Chicago and has 4.66 million subscribers in 426 markets in 21 states. TDS The began as a rural phone company in Wisconsin in 1969.
T-Mobile traces its origins back to the 1994 founding of VoiceStream by John Stanton. Stanton had also founded Western Wireless, which itself traces its roots back to Stanton Communications, which was founded in 1988. Western Wireless marketed the then-popular analog voice services such as CDMA under the Cellular One brand. VoiceStream, which had also been part of Western Wireless, was spun off in 1999. Along the way, VoiceStream had acquired Omnipoint, which also used GSM technology, in 1999 and Chicago-based Aerial Communications, another GSM operator, in 2000. Deutsche Telekom acquired VoiceStream in 2000 and, in 2002, renamed it T-Mobile, the brand it used in its home market as well as several other markets.
The acquiring company’s CEO, Michael Sievert, said that the deal will be good for consumers and the industry.
“As customers from both companies will get more coverage and more capacity from our combined footprint, our competitors will be forced to keep up — and even more consumers will benefit,” he said in a statement.
The self-proclaimed Uncarrier said that the deal will also lower prices and improve the mobile operator’s network.
On a conference call on Wednesday announcing the deal, U.S. Cellular CEO Laurent Therivel said that T-Mobile has committed to hiring a “significant number” of his company’s associates.
U.S. Cellular said it plans to retain about 4,400 owned towers and approximately 70% of its spectrum portfolio and will look for ways to monetize those remaining assets, in a statement issued Wednesday.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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