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Technology Stocks : Stratex Networks, Inc. (STXN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Arrow Hd. who wrote (1546)	12/22/2003 10:40:51 AM
From: Rob Preuss	Respond to of 1762

Interesting Development in China... China Unicom To Commercially Launch Dual-Mode Service Mid Monday December 22, 6:14 am ET HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- China Unicom Ltd. (NYSE:CHU - News) said Monday it plans to commercially launch a dual-mode wireless service in mid-2004, in its latest bid to attract more customers. The service will allow its mobile phone customers to switch between the GSM and CDMA cellular networks it operates. Chairman Wang Jianzhou said after an extraordinary general meeting that the company had recently completed the trial run of the dual-mode service in Suzhou city in eastern China, making it technically feasible to link the world's two most widely used standards - global system for mobile communications and code division multiple access networks. Wang added that Qualcomm Inc., which designed the 23-month old CDMA standard for China Unicom and began testing the linkage of the two modes this year, has also engaged in low-cost mass production of chips for use in the dual-mode handsets. China Unicom has also been in discussions with handset vendors including Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - News) and Samsung Corp. to order an aggregate of 300, 000 to 500,000 units of dual-mode handsets, he said. The handsets will be 15%- 20% more expensive than existing CDMA phones. "We expect to see the launch of this service in three Chinese cities - Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - in June or July next year," Wang said. The new strategy is likely to help boost CDMA user growth, and at the same time won't take away customers of its core GSM business. The company's recent net additions of CDMA subscribers have been slowing down. Though China Unicom added 1.1 million CDMA customers in November, the pace of customer growth has been lackluster over the past three months, raising the risk the company may not be able to sign up 11.4 million users as targeted this year. Chairman Wang said the company, the listed unit of China's second-largest mobile operator, has potential to achieve break-even at its CDMA operations for the fourth quarter. It had achieved its first quarterly break-even on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, in the third quarter. However, he didn't comment directly on whether or not the division will be able to break even in 2003. Separately, a person close to the deal said Monday China Unicom is planning a three-year, US$300 million syndicated loan for general working capital. The single-tranche facility is likely to carry an interest rate of more than 50 basis points over the London Interbank Offered Rate including fees, the person said. The new facility will likely be the first US dollar-denominated corporate debt issue to be prepared in China, the source said, with China Unicom's mainland operating unit being the borrowing entity. The planned loan comes only three months after China Unicom obtained a three- tranche, US$700 million syndicated loan in Hong Kong in September. That previous syndicated loan was to be used for general working capital and refinancing of its yuan-denominated loans. It had a three-year, US$200 million tranche with an interest margin of 20 basis points over Libor, a five-year, US$ 300 million tranche at 35 basis points over Libor, and a seven-year, US$200 million tranche at 46 basis points over Libor. The spreads didn't include the fee costs. Citigroup was hired as the sole arranger of the latest US$300 million loan deal. China Unicom shareholders also approved Monday its plan to buy nine telecom networks from its parent for 3.2 billion yuan ($1=CNY8.28) in cash. It will also assume net debt of CNY8.1 billion at the assets and in return sell the ailing paging business to the parent for CNY2.75 billion. Following the acquisition, its debt-to-asset ratio will rise to 55.1% from 51.6% previously. The acquisition targets are network services in middle and western China: Gansu, Hainan, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shanxi, Tibet and Yunnan. The deal will extend China Unicom's reach to 30 networks covering all of China, except Guizhou province.

To: Arrow Hd. who wrote (1546)	1/5/2004 6:26:38 PM
From: Rob Preuss	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1762

SEC Form 4, filed today with the SEC, shows that various directors of STXN recently acquired shares as follows: William Hasler, Director, acquired 5,883 shares on 1/2/04 at $4.25/sh bringing his total ownership to 15,449 shares. John Combs, Director, acquired 5,883 shares on 1/2/04 at $4.25/sh bringing his total ownership to 64,345 shares. Frank Mendicino II, Director, acquired 5,883 shares on 1/2/04 at $4.25/sh bringing his total ownership to 121,499 shares. Dr. James Meindl, Director, acquired 2,942 shares on 1/2/04 at $4.25/sh bringing his total ownership to 11,014 shares. Can anyone discern from these SEC filings whether these shares were purchased out-of-pocket or given in compensation or what? While such details are of interest because they make some difference, I think (in the bigger picture) that this bodes well for the stock performance over the next 6-12 months. Tomorrow the management speaks at an investor conference after the market closes. I expect the share price to rise further this week as a result. But will it pull back later this month??? Rob