Last year in May, T-Mobile announced it would acquire most of the assets from US Cellular in a bid to expand its network. However, more than a year has passed, and the deal hasn’t been closed yet. As it turns out, T-Mobile’s acquisition of US Cellular assets has been delayed, apparently due to the FCC being a bit short-staffed.
T-Mobile US Cellular deal delayed
For the FCC to operate, it needs at least three members on board. Right now, it only has two sitting commissioners, Chairman Brendan Carr and Anna M. Gomez. Typically, the FCC has five commissioners. However, due to recent resignations, the organization is left with two.
This means that until the FCC has at least three members, any deal that requires its oversight or approval will be put on hold. This includes the T-Mobile and US Cellular deal, which has been delayed for more than a year. It is estimated that it will most likely close in either August or September later this year.
In fact, in October last year, US Cellular wrote to the FCC asking for it to give the deal a green light. As it stands, US Cellular is facing a loss in subscribers. This means that it isn’t making as much money as it would like. So, selling some of its assets to T-Mobile is a way for the carrier to remain afloat. Obviously, with the deal being delayed, this puts further financial strain on US Cellular.
Both companies had previously agreed that T-Mobile would pay $2.4 billion in cash to US Cellular. It would also take over responsibility for the $2 billion debt that US Cellular owed. In exchange, T-Mobile would get 30% of the carrier’s spectrum assets, including the 600 MHz, 700 MHz A Block, PCS, AWS, 2.5 GHz, and 24 GHz (mmWave) frequencies.
Pending approval
So far, there doesn’t appear to be any indication that this deal won’t be approved. After all, the FCC previously approved T-Mobile’s $26 billion acquisition of Sprint. Given the size of this deal, it shouldn’t have any problem being passed.
T-Mobile has come a long way since its early days. The carrier was once smaller than Verizon and AT&T. However, thanks to its Un-carrier initiative and the acquisition of Sprint, it is now one of the largest carriers in the US.
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