Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Verizon Wireless Sues Nextel Over Cellphone Prototypes

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 18:32:31 -0400

Bye-Bye- Timmy, Barry & Paulee

Like I said;  " How Business Gets Done"
                                       -Dirty
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Dow Jones Business News

Verizon Wireless Sues Nextel Over Cellphone Prototypes

Friday June 27, 6:10 pm ET

By Jesse Drucker, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

NEW YORK -- Verizon Wireless has 
filed a lawsuit against Nextel Communications Inc.
(NasdaqNM:NXTL - News) , charging Nextel with 
improperly acquiring prototypes of a vital 
new Verizon cellphone and gaining unauthorized 
access to Verizon Wireless' network.
The complaint comes at a time when
competition between the two carriers
is about to heat up markedly.

Verizon Wireless is soon expected to
roll out an offering competing directly
with Nextel's popular "Direct
Connect" service, which allows
cellphone users to communicate
using a walkie-talkie-like feature. The
feature, also known as "push to talk,"
has helped Nextel build a huge
business-customer base with the
highest average revenue per user
and lowest customer turnover rate in
the U.S. wireless industry.

According to the suit, filed Friday in Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va.,
Nextel came into possession earlier this month of a pair of Verizon Wireless
prototype phones using the new service. Accusing Nextel of "unlawful corporate
espionage," Verizon says its wireless rival then obtained " unauthorized access"
to Verizon's network and made hundreds of push-to-talk calls.

"Nextel's unauthorized testing of Verizon Wireless' prototype push to talk
handsets and network allowed Nextel to improperly obtain valuable, confidential,
and proprietary business information," the suit claims. It also alleges Nextel
shared that information with an unnamed industry analyst to "improperly influence
industry reviews" of Verizon Wireless' upcoming service.

"We found out about others getting demonstrations of the product, and we knew we
weren't giving those demonstrations," said Jim Gerace, a spokesman for Verizon
Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC .

Audrey Schaefer, a Nextel spokeswoman, said the company had just received the
filing and is in the process of reviewing it.

"Nextel is confident it has conducted itself properly, so we're baffled by the
claims," she added. "We believe it's entirely without merit and we will defend
ourselves vigorously." Ms. Schaefer declined further comment on the events alleged
in the complaint.

Verizon Wireless, based in Bedminster, N.J., is the country's largest wireless
carrier based on number of subscribers with 33.3 million customers. The Reston,
Va.-based Nextel is the No. 5 carrier, with 11.1 million subscribers. Over the
past year, Nextel's share price has been on a tear, more than quadrupling since
last summer.

The suit charges Nextel with Federal Communications Commission (News - Websites)
violations for using its network without its authorization. "Nextel and its
employees and agents had no license from the FCC, or authority from Verizon
Wireless, to operate Verizon Wireless' prototype push to talk handsets on
frequencies licensed to Verizon Wireless," the suit claims. The complaint also
alleges Nextel violated various federal and state computer-fraud and
computer-crime laws.

-By Jesse Drucker; The Wall Street Journal; 212-416-3530

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030627/1810000808_1.html

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