T-Mobile acquiring Evansville based company Metronet

HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) – T-Mobile announced it has entered into a joint venture with global investment firm KKR to acquire the Evansville based company Metronet.

Metronet is a fiber-based company that reaches two million homes and businesses in 17 states.

Officials state the deal will include Metronet’s broadband infrastructure, and when the sale closes, Metronet will become a wholesale service provider for its retail customers and 100% of its residential fiber retail operations and customers will transition to T-Mobile.

Officials also state T-Mobile will have full responsibility for residential customer acquisition and support, leveraging its differential retail, marketing, brand recognition and service model and will utilize Metronet’s deep digital and fiber infrastructure expertise to expand to more households with fiber broadband services where Metronet will focus on build plans, network engineering and design, network deployment and customer installation.

At closing, T-Mobile is expected to invest approximately $4.9 billon to acquire a 50% equity stake in the joint venture, according to a press release. With KKR’s share, the deal comes to around $10 billion.

“This is a unique opportunity and a smart, capital-efficient deal that enables T-Mobile to profitably build on our success in broadband and provide fast, affordable and reliable connectivity options to millions more customers nationwide as a complement to our wireless growth strategy,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “Metronet is the perfect partner for T-Mobile as a leader in fiber solutions with an incredibly fast build pace, and a top-notch management team. Together with KKR’s strong heritage of corporate partnership and global fiber franchise, we will further expand the Un-carrier’s fiber footprint and deliver real value and choice to customers while addressing a growing demand for fast and reliable broadband.”

“We could not be prouder to expand our strategic partnership with KKR and form a new one with T-Mobile — two global leaders in 5G wireless connectivity and digital infrastructure,” said Metronet CEO Dave Heimbach. “Metronet’s 100% fiber network delivers symmetrical multi-gigabit internet service directly to homes and businesses, perfectly complementing T-Mobile’s industry-leading 5G mobile and fixed-wireless offerings to meet consumer demand for seamless, ubiquitous connectivity. With this new partnership, Metronet will expand its fiber network faster and farther, reaching millions more households by the end of the decade.”

Officials say subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close in 2025 with Metronet expecting to be self-funding on a go forward basis and is expected to reach 6.5 million homes passed by the end of 2030.

You can read the full press release by clicking here .

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