Will this further delay the growth of INSP?
Tuesday August 21 3:19 PM ET
UBS Warburg to Provide NextWave with $2.5 Billion
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By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NextWave Telecom Inc. (NXLC.PK), the mobile telephone company trying to emerge from bankruptcy and hold onto valuable wireless licenses, said on Tuesday it has secured debt financing of $2.5 billion from banking giant UBS Warburg for building its network.
UBS Warburg, the investment banking arm of Switzerland's UBS AG (UBSZn.VX), will also act as NextWave's financial adviser as well as help the company complete its plans to emerge from bankruptcy which could occur later this year.
``Their financial resources and global wireless expertise will help us deploy our advanced IP-based wireless network and introduce the next-generation, high-speed mobile Internet services that the market is demanding,'' said Allen Salmasi, NextWave's chairman and chief executive officer.
The financing was an interest-bearing loan that will carry a market rate, a NextWave official said. NextWave has filed its plan of reorganization with the bankruptcy court in New York, and the court is expected to hold a hearing next month on the plan.
Key to launching its network will be winning a court battle for the necessary wireless licenses. The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) tried to repossess the valuable wireless licenses after the company failed to pay for them on time.
Before an appeals court ruled that the FCC (news - web sites) violated bankruptcy laws when it tried to repossess the licenses, the regulator re-sold the licenses to rival wireless carriers, including Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ - news)(VOD.L), AT&T Wireless Services (NYSE:AWE - news) and VoiceStream Wireless (DTEGn.DE), among others, who want airwaves to expand and improve services.
The FCC plans to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) and has asked that the licenses not be handed over to NextWave until the high court decides whether to hear the case later this fall.
If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, a ruling would not come until June 2002, further delaying the use of the coveted airwaves.
Last week, NextWave went to Wall Street to outline its plan to build out its network and emerge from bankruptcy. But that is contingent on winning the legal battle, leaving some analysts skeptical.
``We believe the NextWave spectrum will end up in the hands of those who bid for it in the re-auction,'' Lehman Brothers analysts said last week after the presentation.
NextWave is also almost done lining up subscribers for preferred stock of up to $3 billion the company plans to offer, Salmasi has said. His former employer, wireless technology provider Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq:QCOM - news), has agreed to invest $300 million in NextWave.
NextWave plans to launch its data network in dozens of markets in December and expand to 95 markets by April and add voice services by the end of 2002. The company plans to act as a carrier's carrier providing airtime as a wholesale operation to various content and retail providers.
The rival wireless carriers that won NextWave's licenses in the re-auction earlier this year have proposed paying NextWave to abandon its claim to the airwaves and allow the auction results to stand. Additionally, A partner of Verizon Wireless has proposed buying parts of NextWave's spectrum.
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