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Technology Stocks : Nextwave Telecom Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (905)	10/15/2004 9:21:12 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 1088

WSJ -- Verizon Wireless Seeks To Buy Spectrum Licenses. October 15, 2004 Verizon Wireless Seeks To Buy Spectrum Licenses By JESSE DRUCKER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL October 15, 2004 Verizon Wireless is in discussions with NextWave Telecom Inc. about buying its radio-wave spectrum licenses for roughly $3 billion, according to people familiar with the talks. The two sides have been in on-and-off discussions about such a transaction for months. In July, Verizon Wireless said it would pay $930 million to NextWave for a license in New York City. NextWave's other spectrum holdings include licenses in Detroit, Seattle, Denver and other cities. Talks between the companies have started up again in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the situation. Verizon Wireless has big needs for spectrum, because it is the nation's fastest growing wireless carrier. It is also in the midst of an extensive upgrade to its network to enable it to sell higher-speed wireless-data services, which will require more spectrum. NextWave's travails have lasted nearly a decade. The company won roughly $5 billion in radio-wave spectrum licenses in 1996, but filed for bankruptcy protection two years later. The Federal Communications Commission eventually took possession of the licenses and re-auctioned them. But after wireless carriers bid again on the licenses, led by Verizon Wireless, the Supreme Court ruled that the FCC improperly had reclaimed the licenses, putting them back in NextWave's possession. Last year, Cingular Wireless announced that it would purchase $1.4 billion in spectrum licenses from NextWave, based in Washington, D.C. Verizon Wireless, as well as other carriers in need of spectrum, may be delaying transactions with NextWave because the FCC is scheduled to auction additional spectrum licenses soon. However, many carriers believe that the spectrum from those auctions would take longer to acquire and utilize than spectrum from NextWave. In papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan last week, NextWave said it is involved in detailed discussions "on multiple fronts" about several potential transactions. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group PLC. Write to Jesse Drucker at jesse.drucker@wsj.com Copyright © 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.