CHICAGO-Furthering attempts to focus on markets that it calls strategic to its long-term success, U.S. Cellular Corp. and TDS Telecom, both of which are subsidiaries of Telephone and Data Systems Inc., entered into a definitive agreement to sell certain wireless properties to Alltel Corp. for approximately $143 million in cash.
U.S. Cellular’s assets that are part of the sale include the complete ownership of a 25-megahertz cellular license and network assets in Florida covering the counties of St. Lucie and Martin, and 49-percent interest of a 25-megahertz cellular license and network assets in Ohio that include the counties of Jackson, Gallia, Pike, Ross and Scioto. The combined assets cover 460,000 potential customers with 35 cell sites and serve approximately 37,000 subscribers.
U.S. Cellular is also selling its investment interests in five MSA licenses, including an 8-percent interest in three North Carolina licenses covering Raleigh-Durham, Fayetteville and Burlington, a 6.6-percent interest in Mississippi covering Jackson, and a 44.5-percent interest in Wisconsin covering Eau Claire, as well as a 10-percent interest in a pair of licenses in Ohio covering RSAs 586 and 589.
U.S. Cellular said it will receive approximately $80 million in cash for its share of the deal.
The TDS Telecom assets include a 58-percent interest in Georgia RSA 382 that has been operated by Alltel and represents 133,000 pops, and a 2-percent interest in Wisconsin RSA 715, covering 5,000 pops. TDS added that it would receive approximately $63 million in cash from the sale.
“The U.S. Cellular transaction is a continuation of our strategy to exit markets that are not strategic to our long-term success,” said John Rooney, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Cellular. “These properties, while valuable in their own right, do not complement the geographic footprint of the company nor strengthen its competitive position on our larger, more well-established markets.”
Rooney added that the carrier could use the proceeds for the sale to build out several markets that it acquired from AT&T Wireless Services Inc. last year in a spectrum swap that strengthened its Midwest and Northeast market clusters.
