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Technology Stocks : Advanced Radio Telecom (ARTT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sandra who wrote (243)	10/23/1998 3:22:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 1176

Advanced Radio Up; Sector Rise Tied To Lucent-Winstar News Dow Jones Newswires October 22, 1998 By Paula L. Stepankowsky LONGVIEW, Wash. (Dow Jones)--A deal announced Thursday between Winstar Communications Inc. (WCII) and Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) is likely behind a 31% increase in the stock price of another industry player, Advanced Radio Telecom Corp.(ARTT), analysts said. While the Winstar-Lucent deal doesn't directly involve Advanced Radio, it is giving investors confidence that the fixed-wireless industry has a future, said Ed Mullane, an analyst with New Japan Securities International. In a fixed-wireless system, telephone customers are linked to local carriers through cellular-radio frequencies instead of copper wires. "There was a tremendous amount of concern about whether they would have enough capital to meet the objectives of their business plan, and what the market is saying is if Lucent is willing to make such a large investment with Winstar, the outlook for this type of communications will be pretty good going into the future," Mullane said. In the deal announced early Thursday, Winstar and Lucent announced a long-term strategic relationship to build out Winstar's fixed wireless broadband telecommunications network in major domestic and international markets. Under the five-year agreement, Lucent will also provide up to $2 billion in equipment financing to fund the buildout of the global end-to-end broadband network. Advanced Radio provides high-speed, high-capacity digital communications over microwave frequencies using the 38 GHz spectrum of the radio frequency. Its licenses cover 210 U.S. markets. Stuart Conrad, an analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., said the Winstar-Lucent announcement came at a time when Advanced Radio's stock had been beaten down sharply from its year-high of 17 3/4 on March 12. It reached a year low of 1 7/8 on Oct. 8 before rebounding to 4 9/16 recently, a 30.9% increase over Wednesday's close. "The stock was depressed to a level where any sort of spark helping the company or the industry should be helping the story," Conrad said, noting that other fixed-wireless stocks, including Teligent Inc. (TGNT) and Winstar itself, were trading higher Thursday. Teligent was recently up 3.3% at 27 5/8. Winstar was up 31.3% to 25 11/16. Farley Shiner, an analyst with Scott & Stringfellow Inc., said Advanced Radio has a similar, although smaller, agreement with Lucent itself. Lucent's willingness to participate in the industry enhances confidence companies like Advanced Radio will be able to get financing, he said. "I think the whole group got penalized because of capital markets closing, and this is a very capital intensive business," Shiner said. "Some companies less further along with their financial plans got penalized more than others. Any sign capital markets are open will be a positive for the whole group," Shiner said. Advanced Radio spokeswoman Lori Lawrenson said the company's policy is not to comment on stock price movement. She said, however, there has been no change in company fundamentals since Wednesday.