nTelos today announced a “strategic refocus” that will see the Sprint wholesale partner shift its focus entirely to its West Virginia and western Virginia markets.

nTelos will begin to wind down its network and retail operations in its eastern Virginia markets and will sell its 1900 MHz PCS spectrum in those markets to T-Mobile for $56 million. The carrier expects that transaction to close by April 2015.

In May nTelos extended by 10 years its Strategic Network Alliance with Sprint for its remaining coverage areas. The carrier says the refocus will help it expand its LTE coverage and enhance its service capabilities in the western markets.

“In an effort to strengthen our retail sales performance and leverage our strategic relationship with Sprint, we are right-sizing our business and redirecting our resources on our Western Markets, which provide us the greatest opportunity for sustained, profitable growth.  At the same time, we are exiting markets that have become increasingly competitive and where we have been unable to achieve acceptable financial returns,” nTelos Chairman Michael A. Huber said in a statement.

nTelos’ exit from its eastern markets will reduce the carrier’s POPs covered from 6 million to 3 million. The carrier is expecting costs of $55 million due to the wind down process. It will look into the sale of its additional eastern market network assets before the completion of the wind down.