Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel: Capital Spending to Drop in 2004

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 08:36:06 -0400

Nextel: Capital Spending to Drop in 2004
 Wed October 01, 2003 01:31 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wireless telephone company Nextel Communications Inc. NXTL.O
said on Wednesday it expects its capital spending to drop in 2004 as it keeps a
tight grip on expenses.

Capital expenses in 2004 will be "a few hundred million" less than 2003's capital
spending budget of about $1.8 billion, Nextel Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh
told investors at a Goldman Sachs communications conference in New York.
Meanwhile, Nextel Chief Executive Tim Donahue repeated the company's financial
guidance for 2003. The company expects earnings to be at least $1 a share, and
free cash flow to be $600 million or more.

The Reston, Virginia-based company, the No. 5 U.S. wireless operator, also expects
to add at least 1.9 million new customers this year, he said.

The wireless industry as a whole has generated "solid revenue growth, and we
expect that to continue," Donahue said.
"I expect the industry to report a strong third quarter. There is just a lot of
momentum right now," Donahue said.
Nextel faces a new bout of competition since larger rival Verizon Wireless
launched a "walkie talkie" telephone service that takes aim at a lucrative market
niche that Nextel dominated for a decade. Other carriers plan to launch "walkie
talkie" products over the few months.

The "walkie talkie" feature allows subscribers to connect with colleagues or
friends across the country with the push of a button instead of dialing a number
and waiting for the call to go through.

Shrugging off the new service from Verizon Wireless, Donahue touted Nextel's
product that connects customers instantly. The product from Verizon Wireless, a
joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. VZ.N and Vodafone Group Plc VOD.L ,
has a delay of a few seconds.

"Customers have told us that unless it's instant communication that it does not
have a lot of value," Donahue said.
Shares of Nextel traded at $19.25, down 46 cents, or 2.3 percent, in afternoon
trading on Nasdaq.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3541509

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