T-Mobile has struck another deal to expand its fiber internet footprint, this time picking up U.S. Internet, a smaller fiber company that serves the Minneapolis area and parts of Wisconsin. Current customers of the regional provider have already received letters telling them they’ll officially become T-Mobile customers starting September 2nd, pending regulatory approval.

According to PhoneArena, U.S. Internet isn’t a huge catch compared to T-Mobile’s other recent acquisitions, but it adds nearly 200,000 potential connections to the Un-carrier’s fiber plans. Most of those are concentrated in Minnesota’s most populated county, which makes sense from a business standpoint.

This purchase fits into T-Mobile’s bigger picture of trying to catch up in the home internet game. The company already dominates 5G home internet with 7 million customers, but fiber is still considered the gold standard for speed and reliability. That’s why T-Mobile has been on a buying spree, previously snatching up Lumos and Metronet, with plans to reach up to 15 million homes with fiber service by 2030.

The timing isn’t coincidental either. Wall Street analysts have been critical of T-Mobile’s limited fiber footprint, with one major firm downgrading the stock and calling the carrier “fiber deficient.” With competitors like AT&T and Verizon building out extensive fiber networks that can be bundled with wireless plans, T-Mobile clearly feels the pressure to keep up.

For customers in the Minneapolis area, this likely means better service options are coming. T-Mobile launched its home fiber service just this past June, so integrating U.S. Internet’s existing network should give local customers access to T-Mobile’s broader service ecosystem while potentially improving speeds and reliability.

The deal still needs final regulatory approval, but given T-Mobile’s recent track record with acquisitions, it seems like a foregone conclusion at this point.

Source: PhoneArena