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To: Dale Baker who wrote (7484)	6/14/1999 11:22:00 AM
From: Dale Baker	Respond to of 118717

MFNX news - 10:44 ET ****** Metromedia Fiber Network (MFNX) 41 3/16 +9/16 : The extremely aggressive seller of dark-fiber networks signs an agreement with Bell Atlantic that allows Metromedia to install dark fiber into Bell Atlantic's (BEL) central offices, and allows Metromedia to resell the network capacity to anyone. Metromedia is building a large dark fiber network, which started in New York City and was then expanded to the entire Boston-Washington corridor, as well as Chicago and Silicon Valley, and now covers 12 US cities, and parts of Germany. Dark fiber is fiber optic cable network with an undefined protocol. The customer can use the system for whatever purpose they choose: all voice, internet data, video, mixed voice/data, private computer network, etc. The company leases the capacity to the business customer, typically in ten year contracts. Since getting started just 6 years ago, Metromedia has been on an incredible growth curve, building a network as fast as possible, and signing up clients quickly. Today's agreement is extremely interesting, although the financial details between Bell Atlantic and Metromedia have not been revealed yet. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the Baby Bell companies to allow CLEC (competitive local exchange carriers - basically anyone who wants to get into the telecom business) to buy capacity on the Baby Bell local networks. Prior to this agreement, the Baby Bells were forcing the CLEC's to essentially install their own equipment alongside the Baby Bell's central office equipment, something which requires a lot of capital. Now a CLEC will be able to lease fiber optic capacity from Metromedia. Presumably, Bell Atlantic will share in these lease revenues, but Bell Atlantic also gains because as they open up their local exchanges, the FCC will allow them to start competing in long distance service. Presumably, Bell Atlantic could start offering business long distance services over the Metromedia network. It is a very intriguing deal, even without having the financial details revealed. Although the stock has risen more than eight times since we first profiled the company back on August 13, 1998, today's deal demonstrates that there is still a lot more room for growth.