March 8, 2005

Verizon said it completed its $418 million acquisition of Qwest Communications' wireless assets, originally announced in July 2004.

The deal included Qwest's 1.9 GHz spectrum licenses, cell sites, CDMA network infrastructure, site leases and associated network equipment covering 30.8 million potential customers in 62 markets across 14 western states.

Verizon Wireless noted that 54 of the licenses were in markets where the carrier already operated its network and would be used to expand network capacity and coverage.

The new markets for Verizon Wireless cover an additional 1.5 million pops, including Rochester, Minn.; Lincoln, Neb.; and Longview, Wash.

The deal did not include any subscribers, as Qwest had previously announced and since migrated its nearly 800,000 wireless subscribers to Sprint Corp.'s network as part of a mobile virtual network operator agreement.

The MVNO arrangement allows Qwest to offer nationwide services to customers in the 14 states where it operates its wireline network.

Source: RCR News