Verizon buys $1 billion of spectrum from US Cellular

(Bloomberg) — Verizon Communications Inc., the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., will acquire some of U.S. Cellular Corp.'s spectrum licenses. buy for $1 billion as the tower operator sells off parts of its portfolio.

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The transaction and agreements with two other wireless carriers are contingent on the completion of an agreement announced in May to sell its wireless business and some of its spectrum assets to T-Mobile US Inc., US Cellular said in a statement Friday.

The announcement came at a time when U.S. wireless companies have been pushed to focus more on their core businesses. Verizon sold the right to lease thousands of towers last month, allowing capacity to be leased back. US Cellular's T-Mobile deal in May was worth $4.4 billion, including cash and debt.

US Cellular controls one of the largest cell tower companies in the United States. It will still have some spectrum as the deals close, and it will continue to “opportunistically monetize these retained assets,” the statement said.

Shares of US Cellular rose 9.1% in New York Friday morning, while Verizon was little changed.

(Updates with stocks. An earlier version of this story has been corrected to remove reference to US Cellular being privately held.)

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