Verizon leases colocation rights on 4,400 towers
T-Mobile signed a deal in May to use over 2,000 of Array's towers
This follows Verizon's selling off its remaining 6,339 towers in October 2024, preferring to rent
Verizon struck a deal to lease a national network of 4,400 cellular towers from Array Digital Infrastructure, formerly U.S. Cellular, after T-Mobile bought substantially all of UScellular’s wireless operations for $4.4 billion in late May,
Verizon signed a multi-year deal Tuesday to colocate on Array’s nationwide tower locations coast-to-coast. “The agreement establishes a streamlined pricing structure on these new sites, providing greater cost efficiency and long-term stability,” Verizon said in a statement.
Verizon sold off its remaining 6,339 towers to Vertical Bridge for $3.3 billion in October 2024. Most major U.S. wireless carriers began shedding their tower assets years ago, opting instead to rent space on towers owned by public tower companies such as American Tower, Crown Castle, or SBA Communications, or one of the many privately owned tower companies.
Array is one of few operators that has retained towers, even after it sold off its 4 million wireless customers and certain spectrum assets to T-Mobile.
The T-Mobile/UScellular deal in May saw T-Mobile enter into a long-term lease arrangement on at least 2,100 of UScellular’s towers. So, we may see T-Mobile and Verizon, as well as AT&T, collocating on Array towers.