(Bloomberg) — Verizon Communications Inc., the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., will buy a portion of U.S. Cellular Corp.’s spectrum licenses. buy for $1 billion as the tower operator divests part of its portfolio.
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The transaction and agreements with two other mobile network operators are conditional on closing a deal announced in May to sell wireless operations and part of its spectrum assets to T-Mobile US Inc., US Cellular said in a statement on Friday.
The announcement came amid a push for U.S. wireless companies to focus more on their core businesses. Verizon last month sold the right to lease thousands of towers in a deal that allowed it to lease back capacity. US Cellular’s T-Mobile deal in May was $4.4 billion, including cash and debt.
US Cellular controls one of the largest tower companies in the US. It will still have some spectrum if the deals close, and continue to “opportunistically monetize these retained assets,” the statement said.
Shares of US Cellular rose 9.1% in New York on Friday morning, while Verizon was little changed.
(Updates with shares. An earlier version of this story has been corrected to remove the reference to US Cellular as privately held.)
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