Well, here’s one of the first significant moves by newly-appointed T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere. The Bellevue wireless carrier today announced a deal to sell the rights to 7,200 cell towers to Crown Castle.

The $2.4 billion deal will provide T-Mobile with much needed funds, which has struggled to regain its footing following its failed $39 billion merger with AT&T last year. T-Mobile is looking to upgrade its network, including the launch of a LTE network next year.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere

As part of the deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter, Crown Castle will have the exclusive rights to lease the towers for an average of about 28 years. Houston-based Crown Castle also will gain the rights to purchase the towers for $2.4 billion once the lease agreements end.

The deal was expected, with The Wall Street Journal reporting on the terms last month.

T-Mobile’s Legere provided this statement on the transaction:

“We are pleased to reach this mutually beneficial agreement with Crown Castle and take another step closer to realizing the bold vision outlined in our Challenger strategy to solidify our competitiveness in the industry by investing in areas where we anticipate the strongest return for our customers. T-Mobile USA is working aggressively to make our 4G network stronger, faster and more dependable for consumers, and this transaction will support our ongoing $4 billion network modernization initiative that is the cornerstone of this effort as we work tirelessly to continue to deliver our amazing 4G services nationwide.”

 

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