T-Mobile and UScellular are awaiting approval from the FCC and the DOJ for their transaction. Under the terms of the acquisition previously announced, T-Mobile will receive UScellular’s wireless operations which includes customers, retail stores, and 30% of its wireless spectrum. T-Mobile will be on the hook for $4.4 billion which includes $2 billion of UScellular debt that will become an obligation of T-Mobile.
The fifth-largest wireless firm in the US, UScellular’s coverage area includes many underserved rural markets in the United States. At the end of last week, the wireless provider reported its first quarter financial numbers which showed that the company lost 39,000 net postpaid phone subscribers in the quarter leaving it with 3,946,000 postpaid customers. Postpaid customers are considered the gold standard since they are less likely to jump to another carrier, generate higher average revenue per user, and provide opportunities for the carrier to upsell them.
During the quarter, UScellular’s third-party tower rental revenue rose 6% and the carrier continued to deploy mid-band spectrum for mobile and fixed-wireless customers. During Q1, UScellular reported revenue of $891 million down $59 million or 6.2% from the $950 million in revenue that the carrier reported during the same quarter last year. At $741 million, service revenue dropped off slightly from the $754 million UScellular reported during Q1 2024.
Net income during Q1 came to $18 million or 21 cents per share compared to the $18 million or 20 cents per share reported by UScellular during the previous year’s first quarter. While the carrier would have usually included its forecast for 2025 with its report, because of the pending deal with T-Mobile, there were no statements that would be considered financial guidance for 2025 from UScellular.
As we noted just a few days ago, attorneys for both T-Mobile and UScellular recently met with the FCC asking the regulatory agency to move quickly to approve the part of their transaction dealing with the transfer of some of UScellular’s airwaves to T-Mobile. On the other hand, the Rural Wireless Association (RWA), along with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Public Knowledge, New America’s Open Technology Institute, and EchoStar submitted a filing with the FCC on April 23rd.
“In the first quarter, we continued to work towards executing on our 2025 priorities which include successfully closing on the previously announced sale of the wireless business, while remaining focused on investing in a strong customer experience and operating our business efficiently. I am also pleased with the 6% year-over-year growth in third-party tower rental revenues, as the team continues to market our valuable tower portfolio.”
– Laurent Therivel, UScellular President and CEO.
This filing asked the FCC to slow down, take its time, and not rush when determining whether it will allow T-Mobile to add UScellular’s operations to those it picked up from Sprint, Mint Mobile, and others over the last few years. UScellular’s shares declined $5.78 or 8.4% on Friday to $63.07 following the release of the earnings report. T-Mobile’s shares increased $1.88 on Friday closing the week at $248.88.
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