Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Department Of Justice Requests Data From Nextel In Anti-Trust Probe-

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 16:07:00 -0500

Department Of Justice Requests Data From Nextel In Anti-Trust Probe-

Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Justice Department has requested
information from Nextel Communications Inc., Motorola Inc. and Verizon
Wireless regarding an antitrust probe of the push-to-talk mobile-phone
market dominated by Nextel, people familiar with the matter said.

Nextel is responding to the request, spokeswoman Elizabeth Brooks said.
She declined to characterize the nature of the probe. Motorola and
Verizon also received what is known as a civil investigative demand from
federal officials, said the people, who declined to be named.

Verizon Wireless and Sprint Corp. last year started selling
walkie-talkie phones in the U.S., marking the first challenge to Reston,
Virginia-based Nextel in that market. Nextel, which uses Motorola phones
and technology, became the fastest growing nationwide U.S. wireless
carrier by attracting construction crews, public-safety teams and other
professionals who want to talk at the push of a button rather than by
dialing a number.

When there's antitrust concern, the Justice Department will ``go ahead
and open an investigation if there's at least some smoke,'' said Mark
Ostrau, an attorney who heads the antitrust practice at Fenwick & West,
a Palo Alto, California, law firm.
The government could use a probe to determine whether there are
anticompetitive agreements between companies or whether a company alone
used unfair tactics to stymie rivals, Ostrau said. If the Justice
Department determines a company unlawfully tried to impede competition,
it could force the company to change practices, or bring charges in a
federal court, he said.
Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to comment.

Requesting Information

Motorola doesn't ``comment on specific investigations,'' spokesman Bill
Parke said. The company will cooperate ``with proper requests for
information from government authorities,'' said Parke, who declined
further comment. Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, is Nextel's
fourth-largest investor, with a 4.5 percent stake.

James Gerace, a spokesman for Bedminster, New Jersey-based Verizon
Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, declined to comment.

Officials from the Justice Department have been looking into the matter
since last year, and issued the information requests earlier this month,
people familiar said.

Nextel shares fell 55 cents to $26.50 at 3:01 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock
Market composite trading. They had more than doubled in the past 12
months. Verizon Communications Inc., which owns 55 percent of Verizon
Wireless, slipped 8 cents to $38.01 in New York Stock Exchange composite
trading. Motorola climbed 55 cents to $17.45.
Partners

Nextel sells its Direct Connect service through a 1994 agreement with
Motorola. Motorola supplies Nextel with its so- called iDEN technology,
the first to combine two-way radio and cellular calling in one handset.
In exchange, Nextel buys almost all of its phones from Motorola.

Motorola also supplies the handsets for Verizon Wireless's push-to-talk
product. Those phones are based on technology developed by Winphoria
Networks, acquired by Motorola last April.

Verizon Wireless's push-to-talk service is inferior to Nextel's because
it takes longer to transmit calls, analysts including Rick Grubbs of
Kaufman Bros. have said.

As of September, Verizon had signed up 100,000 walkie-talkie customers.
Verizon has 37.5 million wireless customers, compared with 12.9 million
for Nextel.

Court Battles

Verizon Wireless and Nextel last year sparred in court over allegations
of anticompetitive behavior and misleading advertising. They settled two
lawsuits this month.

Verizon Wireless agreed to drop claims that Nextel illegally obtained
unreleased versions of Verizon's walkie-talkie phones and made hundreds
of calls to test the network. Nextel agreed to dismiss a suit that said
Verizon Wireless's advertising was misleading.

A suit by Verizon Wireless challenging Nextel's right to trademark the
phrase ``push to talk'' is pending.
To contact the reporters on this story:

Tom Giles in San Francisco at [email-masked]; Dana Cimilluca in
New York at
2397 or [email-masked]
To contact the editor of this story:
Patricia Schauder at [email-masked].
Last Updated: February 25, 2004 15:27 EST

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From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 04:04:48 -0500

The Wall Street Journal / Dow Jones Reported~

"This wouldn't be the first time the Justice Department has examined
Nextel and Motorola (MOT, news), which supplies most of the push-to-talk
equipment to Nextel. In 1994, the Justice Department filed an antitrust
case alleging an agreement between
the two companies would have reduced competition. The following year the
department settled  its case through a consent decree."

"The latest inquiries come as the Federal Communications Commission weighs
whether to grant a request by Nextel to reallocate radio-wave spectrum,
which its rivals charge would give the carrier a windfall of valuable
airwaves."

Later Nextel tried to circumvent the consent decree and tried to buy
900Mhz spectrum from Geotek.

Wireless Week Reported~
"In another pending spectrum acquisition attempt, Nextel bid in a
privately conducted auction for certain specialized mobile radio spectrum
despite a consent decree signed with the Department of Justice in 1995
prohibiting it from holding much of that spectrum."

Timmy ~"Can U Hear Me Now?"

wirelessintegrator wrote:

> Nextel probed for antitrust violations???? Tom Ridge must be
> mistaken; Nextel wouldn't ever do anything even remotely close
> to violating anyone's trust, would they?
>
> --- In [email-masked], Marcelrf <Marcelrf@B...>
> wrote: