T-Mobile USA today announced that it had agreed to buy SunCom Wireless for $1.6 billion in cash and $0.8 billion in assumed debt. The acquisition gives T-Mobile improved coverage in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, puerto rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The company says it is committed to providing SunCom's 1.1 million customers with a "smooth transition" to T-Mobile.

"It is likely that SunCom will not be T-Mobile USA's last acquisition," writes BetaNews' Ed Oswald. "In March, Deustche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann said that the company planned to make acquisitions in the mobile phone sector. Several regional GSM carriers other than SunCom remain, although with the rash of consolidation recently, they are beginning to become somewhat of a rarity."

More here from Unstrung ... more here from the WSJ ... more here from the AP ... more here from Reuters ... more here from Red Herring ... more here from InformationWeek ... and the press release is here.