July 27, 2000
Dow Jones Newswires
Nextel Partners CEO: People 'Love' Our
Product
Dow Jones Newswires
NEW YORK -- Nextel Partners Inc. (NXTP) posted a slimmer than
expected second-quarter loss Thursday, its chief executive said, because
"people in our markets love our product."
The company is "knocking the cover off the ball," John Chapple told
CNBC-TV in a Thursday interview, and posted a 70% quarter-over-quarter
revenue increase.
In the second quarter, Nextel Partners was able to increase its average per
customer revenue to $73 from $65, and trimmed customer turnover to 1.7%,
a figure Chapple said was among the top in the industry.
Its success, he said, stems from the services available on Nextel phones.
Company products offer cellular phone and pager service, online two-way
data, and "most importantly" a "direct connect" walkie-talkie system, he said,
adding that only Nextel Products and its partner Nextel Communications Inc.
(NXTL) provide the direct connect technology, a "powerful and addictive
tool."
The Kirkland, Wash., wireless communications provider is "all about growth
at this juncture," Chapple said, and will be expanding into new markets
"quickly." He said Little Rock, Ark., and portions of Texas were among the
"new, compelling" markets the company would bring in through 2001, as it
tries to build a "ubiquitous national footprint."
-K. Maxwell Murphy; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5173 |
