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Strategies & Market Trends : The Thread Formerly Known as No Rest For The Wicked -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Junkyardawg who wrote (8070)	1/17/1999 5:54:00 PM
From: Mazama	Respond to of 90042

Nextel: Seems to me McCaw and his Nextlink firm are positioning to retain their value in Nextel by buying out Nextel's share in Nextband. Another clue they might be letting go of this one, imho. Mazama BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan 14 (Reuters) - Telecommunications provider Nextlink Communications Inc. on Thursday mounted a major expansion in a two-part deal, valued at about $833 million, to acquire wireless licenses across the United States. Nextlink, founded by cellular phone industry pioneer Craig McCaw, is buying WNP Communications Inc. for $695 in cash and stock, and it has agreed in principle to acquire Nextel Communications Inc.'s 50 percent interest in Nextband, a joint venture of Nextlink and Nextel, for $137.7 million. "This is a very important strategic announcement for Nexlink and will allow us to rapidly extend our local networks to a much broader target audience and advance our goal of becoming a complete facilities-based, end-to-end provider of telecommunications services," Chief Executive Wayne Perry said in a statement. Nextlink is paying roughly $542.1 million to buy WNP and $152.9 million in license charges to the Federal Communications Commission. Nextlink will receive 39 A-block wireless licenses covering 98 million points of presence, or access points, and 1 B-block license with 16 million points of presence. With the Nextband acquisition, Nextlink will get 13 A-block licenses and 26 B-block licenses. Nextel will continue to focus on providing wireless communications for businesses. By combining the two acquisitions with its current operations, Nexlink said it will become the largest owner of local multipoint distribution services (LMDS) wireless coverage in North America with about 95 percent of the top 30 markets in the United States. Nextlink shares were up $1 to $32.25 in early afternoon trade on Nasdaq.