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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pcstel who wrote (14020)	8/17/2001 12:15:49 AM
From: grinder965	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197480

pcstel, If there's one thing you ought to know by now it's this....... Q does not, if it can help it, leave anything to chance. Especially when it involves a strategic opportunity that can deliver a knockout blow in North America which will carryover elsewhere around the globe! A timely and successful rollout of a nationwide HDR network by NextWave will bury the camels in North America! Sprint and Verizon will continue to do just fine. As for Awe, Cingular, Voicestream........well for starters a switch to cdma2000 as quick as is humanly possible might just save the patient. The cabal? They can kiss any hope of ever succeeding in N.A. goodbye! There will come a time when Q will no longer have to make strategic investments that further their interest around the world....but that day has not yet arrived.

To: pcstel who wrote (14020)	8/17/2001 8:07:51 AM
From: kech	Respond to of 197480

In a world where NTT DOCOMO offers billions of dollars to ATT and the Korean companies to go with W-CDMA and Nokia offers 1.5 times vendor financing for their W-CDMA infrastructure investments, I don't see much wrong in Q offering $300 million for an innovative user of their technology.

To: pcstel who wrote (14020)	8/17/2001 10:11:50 AM
From: mightylakers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197480

Qualcomm Puts Its Money Where Its Technology Is, or May Be By Tish Williams Senior Writer 8/17/01 7:57 AM ET Qualcomm (QCOM:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research) isn't averse to risky business. Related Stories Qualcomm Spending Time in the Right Neighborhood Dangerous and Addictive, Vendor Financing Is a Hard Habit to Kick Alltel Shouts Proposal to CenturyTel While companies across the wireless spectrum are intent on proving to the Street how fiscally responsible they can be, Qualcomm skidded across the market Thursday in tube socks and a dress shirt. The licenser of code division multiple access wireless technology, or CDMA, for network equipment and mobile phones took a flier, announcing its part in refunding mobile carrier NextWave to the tune of $300 million. NextWave has quite a reputation as a frequenter of bankruptcy proceedings and legal ramblings. The company went from upstart in 1995 to bankrupt in 1998, filing a plan with bankruptcy court on Aug. 7, 2001, claiming $5 billion in funding as it continues to fight insolvency and the Federal Communications Commission's re-auction of the 95 markets, or $4.3 billion worth, of third-generation wireless spectrum NextWave bought in its prime. The mobile carrier asserts its intention to become a "carrier's carrier," wholesaling time on its not-yet-built wireless network to any carrier that pays up. Qualcomm's $300 million investment comes in conjunction with the Aug. 7 reorganization that brings NextWave $5 billion in funding, which it would like to use to pay its spectrum bills with the FCC, as well as other creditors. Who wouldn't want to hand this company $300 million? Qualcomm joined the restructuring plan in return for NextWave's embrace of the Qualcomm-favored 3G standard, CDMA2000, which will help it offer users 2.4 megabits-per-second speeds on their mobile phones. Qualcomm backs CDMA2000, vs. the W-CDMA, or wideband CDMA, standard preferred by mobile-phone market leader Nokia (NOK:NYSE ADR - news - commentary - research). In a press release trumpeting the NextWave deal, Qualcomm CFO Tony Thornley explained, "This commitment to invest in NextWave complements our existing investment portfolio of diverse and innovative wireless companies that are enabling and fostering CDMA wireless Internet services." Make that economically diverse and innovative when it comes to credit ratings. Qualcomm is a perfect illustration of a company that is willing to use its solid balance sheet to its advantage at a time when equipment providers and carriers are tempering their desire to get business with the need to show the Street a little restraint. Apparently, Qualcomm feels its almost $1 billion in cash and equivalents, as well as another $1 billion in marketable securities, gives it leeway to keep on financing. As of July 1, the company counted its current assets at $3.12 billion, excluding longer-term assets. JP Morgan H&Q analyst Ed Snyder called it a "seed the clouds" strategy. "Qualcomm is looking to get its leverage up at a time when NextWave is relatively inexpensive. If NextWave deploys CDMA, $300 million buys you a lot of influence." (JP Morgan has not done banking for Qualcomm.) Those 95 markets would be a big win for Qualcomm, if NextWave managed to wade through its creditors and win back the spectrum licenses it won years ago.