Verizon acquires UScellular spectrum licenses (850 MHz, AWS, PCS)
- Acquirer
- Verizon
- Target
- UScellular spectrum licenses (850 MHz, AWS, PCS)
- Deal Value
- $1.0B
- Status
- Completed
- Announced
- October 18, 2024
What happened
UScellular agreed to sell Verizon a package of spectrum licenses — 663 million MHz-POPs of 850 MHz cellular plus AWS and PCS holdings — for $1.0 billion in cash, part of its plan to monetize the spectrum excluded from the $4.4 billion sale of its wireless operations to T-Mobile. After the FCC approved the transfer on May 14, 2026, Verizon completed the purchase in June 2026 from Array Digital Infrastructure, the infrastructure company formed from what remained of UScellular.
Why it matters
The fourth-largest US carrier is being disassembled in orderly, billion-dollar increments — operations to T-Mobile, low-band to Verizon, with AT&T's turn coming weeks later. Every one of these transfers deepens the big three's spectrum position in regional markets before regulators have ruled on the main event. For wholesale buyers, the capacity landscape is consolidating in real time.
Source: PR Newswire
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