Sale of US Cellular’s Wireless Business Is in Shareholders’ Best Interests

US Cellular has agreed to sell its wireless operations and 30% of its spectrum licenses to T-Mobile. Assuming the deal goes through, this will leave US Cellular with the remaining spectrum licenses, its tower business, and equity investments in multiple other wireless businesses, most notably Verizon’s Los Angeles operations. We anticipate US Cellular will soon agree to sell most, if not all, of its remaining assets, with a deal contingent on completion of the sale to T-Mobile. Without wireless operations, the spectrum licenses will do US Cellular little good for its own use, but they should have significant value for other wireless operators. We doubt US Cellular will choose to continue operating exclusively as a very small tower provider, so we expect the firm to sell that business as well. We think these moves are in the best interests of shareholders, but these transactions will require regulatory approval.