Shares of United States Cellular (USM) surged over 7% in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the telecommunications company announced a $1.02 billion deal to sell a portion of its retained spectrum licenses to AT&T. The cash deal is expected to close in mid-2025, contingent on USM's previously announced sale of operations to T-Mobile.

In May, USM agreed to sell a substantial part of its wireless operations and customer accounts to T-Mobile for $4.4 billion, including assumed debt. That blockbuster transaction would add over 4 million new customers to T-Mobile's network and significantly expand its spectrum holdings across multiple states.

With the spectrum monetization agreements with AT&T and T-Mobile, USM will have reached deals to unlock value from around 70% of its total spectrum assets. The company, which caters primarily to rural markets, is capitalizing on strong industry demand for spectrum to support 5G network expansion and next-generation wireless services.