T-Mobile announced yesterday that it is acquiring Iowa Wireless, a regional wireless provider that serves Iowa, western Illinois and eastern Nebraska. If the deal closes to acquire iWireless, as is it’s known, T-Mobile will gain a assets including about 75,000 subscribers and 103 full service company stores and authorized dealers.
“We’re taking T-Mobile to every corner of the country and this deal shows our commitment to expanding in the heart of America,” said John Legere, President and CEO of T-Mobile in a press release. “We’ve been disrupting the wireless industry for the benefit of consumers for the last five years now and customers in Iowa will be able to experience the benefits firsthand.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed and it is expected to close during the fourth quarter or early 2018. T-Mobile already owned a portion of iWireless, in partnership with Aureon (formerly Iowa Network Services).
“T-Mobile, Aureon and our independent telephone company partners built iWireless over a period of nearly 20 years,”said Ron Keller, Aureon’s CEO in the press release. “Going forward, iWireless will benefit from T-Mobile’s unrelenting focus on growth and continued investments in a high-quality network experience for their customers.”
The press release says that T-Mobile, which again has been linked to a possible merger or acquisition of Sprint, says it has doubled its LTE coverage since 2015 to reach 315 million people. It expects to cover 6 million more by year’s end.
