Acquisition of SunCom will expand T-Mobile's wireless coverage in the southeastern U.S. Expanding its U.S. turf, T-Mobile USA announced Monday that it will buy SunCom Wireless Holdings for $2.4 billion in cash and assumed debt.T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, will make a cash payment of about $1.6 billion for SunCom, which operates wireless networks in the southeastern United States and Caribbean. The acquisition will improve T-Mobile’s network coverage in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, T-Mobile said in a news release.SunCom has provided roaming service to T-Mobile in these areas since 2004. It operates a network that includes GSM, GPRS, and EDGE. T-Mobile expects to fully integrate SunCom’s network into its own, the company said in a news release. T-Mobile, the fourth largest wireless carrier in the United States, has had limited coverage in parts of the southeastern United States.The SunCom acquisition allows T-Mobile to continue its strategy to “grow abroad with mobile,” René Obermann, chairman of Deutsche Telekom’s board, said in a statement.The acquisition is subject to governmental and regulatory approvals as well as approval by SunCom shareholders. The companies expect the deal to close in the first half of 2008. At the end of the second quarter of 2007, SunCom had more than 1.1 million customers, up by more than 105,000 customers from a year earlier. Its revenue for the quarter was $242.5 million, up from $206.7 million a year earlier.The agreement, approved by the boards of both companies, will give holders of SunCom common stock $27 per share in cash. The $27 per share purchase price represents a premium of 22.7 percent over the closing price of SunCom common stock on the New York Stock Exchange Friday. Technology Industry