News
The deal covers over 6,000 towers across all 50 states and Washington D.C.
Verizon has announced this week that it intends to sell the rights to lease, operate, and manage 6,339 mobile towers to infrastructure giant Vertical Bridge.
The towers, which are reportedly located across the US, are currently owned by various Verizon subsidiaries and have a collective value of $3.3 billion.
Upfront proceeds from the deal are expected to total around $2.8 billion in cash.
As is typical of tower infrastructure divestments, the deal will see Verizon become the anchor tenant on the towers, with a 10-year deal to lease back capacity on the infrastructure and options to increase this term up to 50 years.
“As the nation’s largest mobility provider, we are well positioned with greater financial flexibility to invest in our business, return value to our shareholders and make the nation’s best network even better for customers,” said Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg. “This transaction builds on our existing relationship with Vertical Bridge while realizing substantial value for this unique set of assets and allows us to be agile in optimizing the network with one of the best operating partners.”
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to the typical regulatory approvals.
Vertical Bridge is already the largest independent mobile infrastructure provider in the US, with over 500,000 sites across the country.
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