Cincinnati Bell on Monday agreed to sell its spectrum assets to Verizon Wireless in a deal valued at $210 million. As part of the deal, Verizon will pay $194 million in cash and will take over certain tower lease obligations. On the other hand, the regional carrier will cease all of its wireless operations, but will continue its landline business.
“It has become economically challenging for us to invest in our wireless business at the levels necessary to deliver best-in-class service to our customers", said Cincinnati Bell CEO Ted Torbeck. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2014.
In order to help its customers transition their service to Verizon or any other wireless service provider, the smaller company will lease back some of the spectrum it is selling, and will continue providing wireless services for another eight to twelve months from the signing of the deal.
Verizon, meanwhile, will assign the rights of the spectrum being sold by Cincinnati Bell to private equity firm Grain Management, and will then lease some of the spectrum licenses from the private firm.
Verizon has been facing stiff competition from other prominent players like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Last year, Verizon Communications bought Vodafone Group PLC’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless for $130 billion.
