45 Sprint switch facilities to be converted into colo data centers by Cogent

Cogent Communications intends to transform the former Sprint switching plant real estate footprint acquired from T-Mobile into a substantial colocation data center portfolio. T-Mobile announced in September 2022 that it had agreed to sell its Wireline business to Cogent for a symbolic $1, with the telecommunications provider planning to take a $1 billion impairment on the transaction.

A significant portion of the business sold to Cogent was Sprint's legacy US long-haul fiber network, which T-Mobile acquired in 2020 as part of its $26bn merger with Sprint. However, the transaction to Cogent also included over 40 data centers with a total space of approximately 400,000 square feet and a significant real estate footprint of 482 technical spaces and switch sites.