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

To: Neeka who wrote (16299)	11/2/2001 11:39:14 AM
From: Neeka	Respond to of 196668

Dobson to sell four wireless service areas to Verizon By Patrick Mannion EE Times (11/01/01, 3:57 p.m. EST) MANHASSET, N.Y. — Dobson Communications Corp. has agreed to sell four of its wireless operations covering a total population of 950,000 to Verizon Wireless for approximately $465 million. A fifth deal is pending, the company said. Dobson expects to close the sale in the first quarter of 2002 and will use the proceeds to reduce debt totaling $1.6 billion. The properties to be sold are located in California, Georgia, Ohio and Tennessee. Verizon will pay $202 million alone for Tennessee rural service area (RSA) #4, a joint venture property owned by Dobson and AT&T Wireless. The venture partners will share profits from that sale, a Dobson spokesman said. The sale of Dobson's 75 percent interest in Arizona RSA #5, with a population coverage of 200,000, is still being negotiated. The closing of each sale is contingent upon the closing of the other transactions. Verizon Wireless will be acquiring all of the operations in the selected markets, including network facilities, certain retail stores, customer service operations and about 125 employees. The markets, which currently operate under the Cellular One and Alex Wireless brand names, will convert to the Verizon Wireless name after the closings. Upon closing the transactions, Verizon Wireless plans to convert the Dobson operations that use time-division multiple access (TDMA) technology to its preferred code-division multiple access (CDMA) network platform, which is in place throughout the rest of the country. Verizon Wireless will invest some $4 billion nationwide on network technology upgrades this year to improve service levels. Dobson is a leading provider of wireless services to rural communities. It currently covers a population of 12 million across 19 states and has 1.1 million subscribers. eetimes.com