UScellular begins the layoffs

　　UScellular has begun notifying regulators that it's laying off employees as part of T-Mobile's efforts to purchase most of the company's operations.

　　However, the details are somewhat unclear. According to a letter published by ABC17 in Missouri, the layoffs affect all of UScellular's reported 4,100 employees.

　　But UScellular's WARN filing in Missouri does not include a total number of employees affected. The filing states the layoffs will start June 2 and will cover multiple locations in the operator's call center operations.

　　WARN filings are notifications that employers must provide state regulators within 60 days in advance of mass layoffs.

　　In February, UScellular reported around 4,100 employees. The company – headquartered in Chicago, Illinois – is the largest regional wireless network operator in the US with around 4.1 million postpaid customers and around 400,000 prepaid customers across 21 states.

　　So far there have been no WARN notices in Illinois by telecommunications companies in 2025.

　　A UScellular official did not answer questions from Light Reading about the scope of the company's layoffs.

　　"T-Mobile has not made final employment decisions," a UScellular representative wrote in response to Light Reading questions Tuesday. "They are committed to offering employment opportunities to at least a majority of UScellular associates."

　　The background

　　The layoffs are not a surprise, but are noteworthy in that they're arriving before the close of UScellular's deal with T-Mobile. T-Mobile has said it expects its UScellular transaction to close in mid-2025, though it's possible that date might be delayed by regulatory issues.

　　like most smaller wireless network operators, UScellular has been struggling for years as big, nationwide carriers like T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T expand their networks.

　　After putting its business up for sale in 2023, UScellular said last year T-Mobile would acquire much of its operations in a $4.4 billion deal.

　　After that deal was announced, Verizon, AT&T and other, smaller operators announced acquisitions of UScellular's leftover spectrum holdings. Most of those agreements are contingent on the close of T-Mobile's transaction with UScellular.

　　T-Mobile has been working to obtain regulatory approval for the transaction.

　　The controversies

　　Not surprisingly, there are plenty of qualms about T-Mobile's proposed purchase of UScellular.

　　"CWA expressed its concern that the proposed merger will further entrench and extend T-Mobile's dominant position in many local labor markets for retail wireless workers," wrote the Communications Workers of America union to the FCC.

　　CWA has unionized thousands of AT&T and Verizon employees but has largely failed to make headway into T-Mobile.

　　The FCC, for its part, has been requesting more information from T-Mobile related to the agreement.

　　In a related development, T-Mobile recently said it modified, changed and ended some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in its bid to receive regulatory approval for its deal with EQT for fiber operator Lumos. The operator closed that purchase a few days later.

　　Finally, it's worth noting that T-Mobile promised it wouldn't cut jobs as part of its 2020 acquisition of Sprint. However, T-Mobile subsequently explained that its pledge to be a "job creating" company following the combination of Sprint and T-Mobile referred to the total number of employees that Sprint and T-Mobile would theoretically employ at the end of 2022, not at the close of the merger in 2020.

　　Broadly, layoffs are becoming increasingly common in the US wireless industry. For example, the overall combined headcount at AT&T and Verizon fell 6% last year, according to a recent Light Reading count.