Posted July 19, 2018 06:11:54 Portales, a Spanish telecommunications company, has announced plans to buy the US telecom company T-Mobile US for $4.3 billion.
Portales will be one of the biggest investors in T-Mo, with about $5.7 billion in total debt.
The sale will give the Spanish company control over the $5 billion worth of wireless spectrum it holds.
The deal is expected to close by the end of 2019.
Portages shares closed up 5.7% to $5,067.63 at $50.19 per share.
Portals CEO Pedro Paredes said the deal will help the company stay competitive in the fast-changing mobile world.
He said the new deal will allow the company to focus on the mobile business and not worry about the spectrum, which is a major part of the company’s revenue.
Portalis shares closed down 5.6% to close at $541.23.
Paredese said the company is going to focus its efforts on the business of mobile and the wireless business, but he said that Portalis would not lose any spectrum.
Parees said that he expects to be able to retain key people who will continue to lead Portalis’ business in mobile, the internet and wireless.
The telco has been struggling with high debt levels, particularly in the mobile sector.
The company reported an adjusted loss of $10.1 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a loss of 5.5 billion a year ago.
Portali has struggled to stay afloat amid slowing mobile subscriber growth.
Last year, it said that the number of mobile subscribers in Spain fell to just over 3 million, down from 6.4 million in 2014.
The telecommunications company has been facing a wave of retirements as its technology is increasingly obsolete and its network is not as reliable.
Portaleres CEO Pedro Perez said in a statement that the company plans to focus more on the internet, which has been growing at a rapid pace.
Portaes plans to continue its expansion of its network and will continue the development of the Portalees WiMAX network, which will be a high-speed WiMAX line that will serve the U.S. and Europe.
Portales has been developing its WiMAX technology, which allows for Wi-Fi access and data, since 2015.
The new technology will be available for use by a broader range of wireless customers.
