Array Digital Infrastructure (the successor firm to mobile operator UScellular) has closed the sale of $1 billion worth of spectrum to US carrier Verizon.

The sale was completed last week and came weeks after the deal was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

As part of the acquisition, Verizon is set to pick up AWS-3, AWS-1, and PCS licenses from Array, formerly UScellular, covering around eight percent of the US population. Verizon's acquisition of the spectrum was first announced back in October 2024.

Array Digital Infrastructure has pivoted away from being a regional wireless carrier in its UScellular era to a tower infrastructure company after selling a significant chunk of UScellular's operations for $4.4 billion to T-Mobile, including its customer base and around 30 percent of the company's wireless spectrum. Earlier this year, the company also closed the sale of $1bn worth of spectrum to AT&T.

The company is the fifth-largest US tower business with around 4,450 towers. As a carrier, UScellular served around 4.5 million mobile customers.

"We have made significant progress in our spectrum monetization efforts and are pleased with the value realized in this sale," said Anthony Carlson, Array president and CEO.

"Further, as we have done with prior asset sale proceeds, we are returning value to our shareholders in the form of a special dividend." 

Array also noted that certain spectrum sales to T-Mobile totaling $168m, primarily related to 700MHz and 600MHz, were completed last month.