Earlier this month, T-Mobile completed the acquisition of UScellular’s wireless operations and spectrum assets. It also welcomed four million of the latter’s customers to its network. While many stakeholders had opposed the transaction, for now, it appears to be beneficial for both sets of customers.
T-Mobile and UScellular customers are now enjoying better coverage due to an improved roaming experience.
Carriers purchase roaming services from other wireless providers to ensure their customers aren’t left without coverage in areas where they don’t have infrastructure.
UScellular mainly focused on rural areas and had reciprocal roaming agreements with many companies. T-Mobile was an exception, as even though it allowed customers of rural carriers to use its network, it didn’t let its customers do the same.
However, since T-Mobile now owns UScellular, that barrier no longer exists. As a result, T-Mobile customers can now connect to UScellular towers in areas that previously were dead zones for them.
Of course, the question remains whether T-Mobile will honor the roaming agreements UScellular had with other rural companies, though it’s not legally required to do so.
When T-Mobile announced the completion of the transaction, it revealed that not only would UScellular’s customers benefit from its network, but the same would be true for T-Mobile customers who pass through UScellular’s footprint.
In the coming months, T-Mobile and UScellular’s networks will be merged and will function as one for an even better experience. That’s because even though T-Mobile and UScellular have formally joined forces, their networks have not yet been integrated, so for now, their customers can only look forward to extended roaming capabilities for no additional charge. Before the purchase, UScellular customers only had limited roaming access to T-Mobile‘s network.
All in all, this is a win-win, with customers keeping their existing plan and having their existing network coverage with the added benefit of expanded coverage from one more network.
