Cogent Communications agreed to acquire T-Mobile’s Wireline Business.
In addition to the fiber network and related assets and customers, Cogent will acquire certain liabilities associated with the business. In addition, at the closing of the acquisition, the parties will enter into a separate agreement pursuant to which Cogent will offer IP transit services to T-Mobile for 54 months following the closing date and T-Mobile will pay Cogent $700 million for such services, with $350 million due in equal payments over the first 12 months after closing and $350 million due in equal payments over the remaining 42 months.
Cogent described the acquisition as an ideal strategic fit with its existing business. The Wireline Business offers the legacy Sprint U.S. long-haul network that provides an owned network asset to complement and eventually replace Cogent’s current leased network and provides the ability to expand its product set, including the sales of optical wave transport services to new and existing customers. It also has a current customer base who are a fit for Cogent’s products and services, and a group of experienced employees with the knowledge and capabilities to execute the company’s strategy.
Cogent expects to offer customers the ability to migrate from their legacy MPLS VPN solutions to modern Ethernet / VPLS or SD-WAN / DIA solutions for their corporate needs. Cogent also expects to facilitate the migration of netcentric internet access customers from the T-Mobile Wireline Business (legacy Sprint) AS1239 to Cogent’s AS174.
