U.S. Cellular to Purchase Oklahoma City Spectrum License

January 8, 2013
by Robin Nicol

U.S. Cellular, headquartered in Chicago, IL, has signed an agreement with Verizon Wireless to acquire the company’s Oklahoma City 700 MHz A block license covering Oklahoma City and 31 other counties within the state of Oklahoma, in total a population of approximately 1.9 million. The transaction is subject to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval.

The Oklahoma City license purchase agreement is a result of Verizon Wireless’ sale process announced last spring for its lower 700 MHz spectrum licenses. The company continues to evaluate bids for its other lower 700 MHz spectrum licenses which cover numerous major cities and dozens of smaller rural markets across the country.

Since 2011, Verizon Wireless has sold or has agreed to sell 37 of its lower 700 MHz spectrum licenses to 11 different telecommunications companies, including a previous sale to U.S. Cellular and four other agreements announced recently. In addition, through its LTE in Rural America program, Verizon Wireless is leasing upper 700 MHz C-block spectrum to 20 rural operators to jumpstart the delivery of 4G LTE in rural areas.

Stephens Inc., an independent financial services firm, and Loop Capital Markets LLC, a minority-owned full service investment bank, managed the offering process.

Tags: U.S. Cellular, spectrum license sale, spectrum purchase, 700 MHz spectrum license