Crown Castle International is acquiring rights to operate 7,200 of T-Mobileicon's cellular towers in a US$2.4 billion deal that will give the carrier's owner, Deutsche Telekom, cash to expand its 4G LTE network in the U.S.

The deal will allow Crown Castle to operate T-Mobileicon's towers for 28 years. Both companies expressed satisfaction with the sale, with T-Mobileicon announcing the cash would help fulfill its "Challenger" strategy, aimed at expanding T-Mobile's offerings and boosting its place among the country's largest wireless providers.

The company is undergoing a $4 billion network modernization initiative to bring a speedier, more dependable 4G network to consumers nationwide, which will receive a financial boost from the deal with Crown Castle.

"This is not a bad move for T-Mobile," Dan Olds, principal analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group, told the E-Commerce Times. "T-Mobile is doing what a lot of companies do, which is leasing some assets in a rental agreement, getting a ton of cash and probably lowering some of their overall cost. This is a fairly typical deal and a good move for T-Mobile."
Technology News: Carriers: T-Mobile Sells Off Towers to Feed its 4G Needs