By Shalini Ramachandran and Drew FitzGerald Updated Oct. 9, 2019 4:34 pm ET AT&T Inc. T 0.22% has agreed to sell its Puerto Rican and U.S. Virgin Islands businesses to Liberty Latin America Ltd. LILA 3.06% for $1.95 billion in cash, allowing the telecommunications giant to shave its debt load and move closer to repurchasing shares.
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands account for a small sliver of AT&T’s domestic operations, but shedding the unit will help it work down a large debt load accumulated through its $80 billion-plus acquisition of Time Warner last year. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS Would you continue with you service provider if it was sold to another company or would you use it as a chance to look at other options? Why? Join the conversation below.
AT&T originally entered Puerto Rico in 2009 after it acquired Centennial Communications Corp., a rural telecom company with a large share of revenue from the island, for under $1 billion.