Confirmed: T-Mobile’s talks with Blis end in $175 million sale

However, according to separate sources, the U.K. outfit is now understood to be on the brink of announcing a deal with T-Mobile, one of the few telco groups still interested in exploring ad-funded operations.

According to sources, confirmation of these talks is expected the same week as the telecoms sector’s global trade body, the GSMA, hosts its largest conference, Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona.

One source familiar with the developments told Digiday that any such deal would value Blis — a company that has pioneered the location-based targeting sector since the mid-2000s — at around $200 million.

Representatives from Blis and T-Mobile’s comms teams did not immediately respond to Digiday’s multiple requests for comment on the sources’ claims.

Separate sources informed Digiday that Blis, which recently appointed mobile advertising veteran Alex Boras to lead its U.S. operations, had been soliciting offers since late 2024, with PE suitors understood to have been the frontrunners.

However, T-Mobile has emerged as a potential buyer since early 2025, a development that comes just weeks after the telco’s U.S. arm confirmed plans to pay $600 million for out-of-home advertising specialist Vistar Media.

Founded by CEO Greg Ibister in the mid-2000s, Blis specializes in delivering location-powered programmatic advertising solutions “without relying on personal data.” The company has reportedly raised $33.5 million over several funding rounds, most notably a $25 million round in 2016.

In recent months, the ad tech sector has seen a resurgence of mergers and acquisitions, with T-Mobile proving one of the few telcos eager to pursue media operations.

Meanwhile, Viant announced its purchase of Lockr to coincide with its March 3 earnings call. This deal comes a week after DoubleVerify announced it would buy Rockerbox, and MNTN revealed plans to divest Maximum Effort as part of its initial public offering later this year.

In the run-up to T-Mobile confirming its January purchase of OOH specialist Vistar Media, one source with knowledge of the telco’s plans described it as an outlier in the sector. “I think you’ll see them make a number of transactions here [from T-Mobile] because they’re the last man standing as it relates to a telco that still believes in the ad opportunity,” added the source.

According to its official figures from late 2024, T-Mobile has more than 127.5 million connections, which it intends to use as the catalyst for its ambitions in the media business. The completion of any such deal with Blis Media, along with its purchase of Vistar Media, is likely to place it in a prime position in the U.S. digital OOH sector.