Subject: [NEXTEL-1] UPDATE - NextWave wins approval for Clarity wireless pact

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 10:01:44 -0400

UPDATE - NextWave wins approval for Clarity wireless pact
Thursday June 19, 6:53 pm ET
By Jeremy Pelofsky

(Adds financial terms.)

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - NextWave Telecom Inc. (Other OTC:NXLCQ.PK
- News) said on Thursday a bankruptcy court approved its partnership with a
venture
capital firm to acquire additional wireless licenses over the objections by
federal regulators.

The company, which has been
reorganizing under bankruptcy
protection since 1998, received the
go-ahead on Wednesday to enter into
the pact with Clarity Partners so they
can seek and acquire airwaves needed
to deploy a nationwide broadband
wireless service.

The Federal Communications
Commission had objected to the plan
before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for
the Southern District of New York
earlier this week, arguing that
NextWave had not provided enough
information about the venture or how it fits into NextWave's future business and
reorganization plans.

"The ability to take advantage of appropriate opportunities will foster
reorganization by
allowing NextWave to diversify its spectrum holdings and take advantage of new
technologies to deploy the most cost effective wireless broadband wireless
infrastructure,"
the company said in a statement on Thursday.

To ameliorate FCC concerns, NextWave agreed to inform the agency about current
transactions as well as provide updates on such deals in the works and other
potential
deals, according to a lawyer familiar with the matter.

NextWave in February won a Supreme Court battle to hold on to wireless licenses
the
FCC tried to repossess because the Hawthorne, N.Y.-based company failed to pay for
them on time.

The company has also been in talks to sell some of its wireless airwaves to
Cingular, the
No. 2 U.S. mobile telephone carrier, for about $1.5 billion in cash, sources have
said.

NextWave, which was formed in 1995 to provide mobile telephone voice and data
services, said on Thursday it has been working with Internet service providers and
other
information companies to establish strategic relationships.

The company said it has also been conducting service trials and demonstrations on
its
wireless data network.

"Extending consumers' desktop Internet experience to a broad suite of mobile
devices is
widely considered to be the most attractive business opportunity in wireless
today," the
company said.

Under the pact, NextWave and Clarity plan to form and fund an acquisition vehicle
to
acquire spectrum but not spend more than $150 million on organization or
operations.
NextWave plans to pay Clarity $1 million as an initial work fee.

Many mobile telephone companies have been eyeing new high-speed wireless services.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - News) and
Vodafone Group Plc (London:VOD.L - News), and Sprint PCS (NYSE:PCS - News)
have already rolled out some high-speed wireless capabilities

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030619/telecoms_nextwave_2.html

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