VoiceStream completes exchange with CIRI

<%=company1%> Corp. (Bellevue, WA), a provider of personal communications services, has completed a transaction with Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) and others, in which CIRI and the other partners exchanged their interests in four Cook Inlet-VoiceStream (CIVS) joint ventures for over 7.9 million VoiceStream common shares.

According to VoiceStream, in the future other minority partners in two of the CIVS ventures may receive approximately 4.2 million shares upon exercise of certain contractual rights. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved transfer of control of the licenses from CIRI to VoiceStream on December 13, 2000, subject to repayment of approximately $294 million in debt owed by the CIVS ventures to the FCC. On Friday, VoiceStream paid the FCC debt in full. Prior to the exchange VoiceStream held a 49.9 percent interest in each of the ventures.

"We are very pleased to complete these exchanges with CIRI and culminate four successful partnerships," said John Stanton, chairman and CEO of VoiceStream Wireless. "Customers in these markets have benefited from our long standing relationship with CIRI by having access to high quality, affordable wireless services."

Edited by John McKnight
Assistant Editor, Wireless Networks Online