T-Mobile Strikes Again: The $180 Billion Giant Seals Its Latest Acquisition
- Mahek Acharya
- May 15, 2025
- 3 min read
In one of many strategic moves by T-Mobile, as of April 1st, 2025, they have now completed the acquisition of Lumos. Lumos is a high-speed fiber internet provider that is based in the east coast. Essentially, this means that Lumos specializes in creating fiber-optic cables that transmit data harnessing light speed. This gives Lumos the ability to reach 1 Gig speeds and high which are the fastest internet speeds available.
Lumos has already been involved in significant industry developments, including its merger with North State Communications in 2022. However, now with being acquired by T-Mobile, this will expand Lumo’s reach from 475,000 to now 3.5 million homes by 2028 and further integrate its services under T-Mobile Fiber branding. This also allows T-Mobile to push into the fiber broadband market to complement its existing 5G Home Internet offerings. T-Mobile has already invested $950 million in the venture and plans to invest an additional $500 million by 2028, aiming to reach 12-15 million households with fiber broadband by 2030.
Looking in depth at the financial structure of this acquisition, it is classified as a joint venture with EQT ( a purpose-driven global investment organization that has expertise in infrastructure management.) A joint venture is a business arrangement where two or more parties agree to pool their resources to accomplish a specific task. This is why T-Mobile and EQT formed a JV to acquire, expand and use Lumos’ fiber network.
This acquisition was an incredibly strategic move for T-Mobile. Researching the insider insights behind this deal, T-Mobile gains a plethora of service offerings and reduces reliance on its wireless segment. By integrating Lumos' fiber network, T-Mobile can offer bundled services, which will increase customer retention and average revenue per user (ARPU). Moreover, the joint venture with EQT mitigates financial risk, allowing T-Mobile to share the substantial capital expenditures associated with fiber network expansion.
Industry analysts note that this move positions T-Mobile competitively against traditional cable providers and other telecom giants who have established fiber networks.
“T-Mobile is already the fastest-growing broadband provider in America, and expanding into fiber helps us take the next big step in delivering what customers truly want – faster, more reliable internet that simply works,” said Mike Katz, T-Mobile President of Marketing, Strategy and Products.
Something to note as well are the financial metrics that are part of this deal. Lumo’s Enterprise Value (EV) was estimated at approximately $3.2 billion. Enterprise Value is the total value of Lumos, including debt and equity. This EV reflects a multiple of 14x EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization based on Lumos’ projected 2025 earnings of $230 million. This multiple is also expected to rise given the high capital expenditure required for network expansion. Another key metric is ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) which measures a company’s ability to generate returns from its invested capital. It
assesses how efficiently a company is using its capital to generate profits. In order to optimize their ROIC, they leveraged $1.5 billion in long-term debt financing, allowing them to preserve Free Cash Flow and also maintain liquidity. Below shows the one year price chart for T-Mobile.
T-Mobile's acquisition of Lumos, in collaboration with EQT, signifies a pivotal step in the company's evolution from a predominantly wireless provider to now a comprehensive provider. It will allow them to reach broader audiences and will enhance its competitive edge in the rapidly evolving telecommunications landscape. Last but not least, they will maximize profits from this deal and continue to thrive in the technology markets.
References:
EQT Group. (2024). EQT infrastructure strategy. https://www.eqtgroup.com
Reuters. (2024). T-Mobile to acquire Lumos as part of fiber broadband joint venture. https://www.reuters.com
Reuters. (2022). North State Communications completes merger with Lumos Networks. https://www.reuters.com
T-Mobile US, Inc. (2024). T-Mobile and EQT finalize acquisition of Lumos. https://www.t-mobile.com/news
T-Mobile US, Inc. (2024). T-Mobile expands fiber ambitions to complement 5G Home Internet. https://www.t-mobile.com/news
Yahoo Finance. (2025). T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS) stock price chart. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TMUS
