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To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (35375)	7/16/1999 6:04:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Brazil Looking Good> July 16, 1999 Dow Jones Newswires Brazil's Canbra Encouraged By Mexican Wireless Venture By MARGARITA PALATNIK SAO PAULO -- Brazil's Canbra Telefonica SA, a local carrier set to operate by year-end in Brazil's North-Eastern concession area, is watching closely how a Mexican relative evolves, and it likes what it sees so far. With the Mexican privatization a couple of years ahead of Brazil, fresh experience in the deployment of new networks is great help for Canbras. The company, required to make available 1 million lines in 29 cities by the end of the year, is learning from sister company AXtel, which in June launched operations in Monterrey, Mexico, based exclusively on Wireless Local Loop technology. Bell Canada International Inc. (BCICF), with a 34.4% stake in Canbra, controls AXtel with different partners. "We have visited AXtel, and are very interested in what they're doing," Canbra president Gilberto Garbi told Dow Jones Newswires. "Their engineering is of great interest to us." AXtel, one of very few operators in the world working solely on WLL, plans to expand to Guadalajara next and to reach Mexico City by year end. So far, things seem to be going just fine. "We're also looking at their marketing side, and since June, their demand numbers have surprised us. They're way better than they expected," said Canbra's Garbi. Canbra will enter a market where incumbent Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA (TNE) - a hodgepodge of 16 concessions previously owned by former monopoly Telecomunicacoes Brasileiras SA - has been operating under private ownership for a year, so it needs all the good news it can get. But the company has technology on its side: at $700 per WLL line, installation will cost half the price of a traditional land line, and doesn't require any road digging. Plus, the network will be entirely digital from the start, allowing it to market value-added services to all its customers. "We still don't want to say which features we will offer, because first we want to have our network ready, but we'll announce the service package soon," Garbi said. Canbra is also in the process of finding a name brand. "I have here on my desk a list of 12 possible names, that has to be narrowed down to four to submit to focus groups," Garbi said, adding the process should be finished within 30 days. In its concession area - which includes the state and city of Rio de Janeiro - Canbra is installing equipment and switches from Nortel Networks, also a related company through Bell Canada's stake in it, to the tune of $600 million, which Nortel is expected to finance. The total bill for Canbra's initial investment should run around $1 billion, the company says. A Nortel spokeswoman Thursday said that although the equipment purchase has been agreed upon, the finance contract covering the purchase isn't yet in place. Canbra will also acquire Code Division Multiple Access equipment from a North American subsidiary of Sweden's Ericsson AB (X.ERC). U.S.-based Ericsson Inc. (ERICY) acquired the CDMA operations of Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), thus inheriting the supply provisions in Canbra's shareholders' agreement. Qualcomm owns 16.2% of Canbra, and Argentina's SLI Wireless SA holds another 12.5%. "Our shareholders' agreement said that we had to buy from Qualcomm, but now that division is owned by the U.S. subsidiary of Ericsson (of Sweden), so the same equipment will be provided by them," said Garbi, adding that Ericsson will provide WLL equipment to operate at a 1.9 gigaherz frequency. Nortel will supply its Proximity 2 WLL proprietary switches and phones, the same technology deployed by AXtel in Monterrey.

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (35375)	7/16/1999 6:09:00 PM
From: DOUG H	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

rather reminisce on baseball than oogle and fall over each other with irrational exhoooberance... good sign we are not done ascending... looks like first upleg will be long one... it didnt end at 152 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The 3 legged Gorilla. Bench behind the plate, Piazza at the plate, Overall.. BENCH.