U.S. Cellular to sell select spectrum assets to AT&T for $1.018B

United States Cellular (USM) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with AT&T (T) to sell a portion of the company’s retained spectrum licenses for total consideration of $1.018B. The transaction is part of the objective UScellular announced on May 28 to opportunistically monetize the spectrum that was not included in the proposed sale to T-Mobile (TMUS); and follows the transactions previously announced on October 18 to sell a portion of the retained spectrum licenses to Verizon (VZ) and two other mobile network operators, the company noted. 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 $2.02B. 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. “We are pleased with the significant value that will be realized in the various transactions recently announced,” said Laurent Therivel, 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. 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.”