T-Mobile will gain 4 million customers and hundreds of stores.
T-Mobile, one of the nation’s largest wireless providers, announced on Tuesday that it will acquire most of U.S. Cellular in a $4.4 billion deal.
The agreement would grant T-Mobile an additional 4 million customers, hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores and wider reach in rural areas. The move would also expand T-Mobile’s spectrum rights, a valuable federal license that allows firms to transmit mobile signals.
The deal is expected to close in the middle of next year, T-Mobile said.
“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,” Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile, said in a statement.
