Nortel + Leap Wireless

Nortel + Leap Wireless

Posted by samc on July 9th, 2007

Nortel Networks has received a three-year contract to supply Cricket Communications with wireless network equipment, the companies said Monday.

Nortel valued the agreement at US$135 million. Cricket will also earn credits that can be applied to future products and services from Nortel.

Cricket, a subsidiary of publicly traded Leap Wireless, will deploy Nortel CDMA2000 1X and EV-DO Rev A equipment to expand mobile voice and data services in markets across the United States. The Company and its joint ventures now operate in 23 states and hold licenses in 35 of the top 50 U.S. markets offering prepaid wireless service with free unlimited incoming calls from anywhere with outgoing calls at 10 cents per minute along with free incoming and outgoing text messaging.

Leap Wireless is poised to make a large push into East Coast and Gulf Coast markets using its AWS spectrum notes RCR News.

The AWS Auction, which concluded last September spectrum purchases opened up opportunities in markets along the Gulf Coast, from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La. East Coast cities where Leap expects to build new markets include Wilmington, Del.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Md.; and Richmond and Norfolk, Va.

Other markets include Minneapolis, Minn.; St. Louis, Mo.; Oklahoma City; Las Vegas, Nev.; Chicago, Ill.; and Seattle, Wash. Leap and its designated-entity partner, Denali Spectrum Co., were high bidders on 100 licenses costing $984 million. Cricket Wireless helped start Denali. While Denali is technically a separate company, Cricket is expected to use Denali’s (Leap’s) network for Cricket service.

The carrier’s first phase of buildout is already fully funded, according to the company, and is expected to start by the end of next year and extend into 2009.

The big buyer of AWS spectrum was T-Mobile, which spend some $4 billion covering virtually the entire country.

The FCC’s Advanced Wireless Services auction will likely be used for 3G (W-CDMA) phone services. It grossed $13.9 billion for the U.S. Treasury. The 28-day-long auction ended this September after 161 rounds, with 104 of the 168 registered bidders winning at least one license. All but 35 of the total 1,122 licenses up for grabs received bids.

Top 10 Highest AWS Bidders
Bidders	Net total of high bids
1. T-Mobile	$4.2 billion
2. Verizon Wireless	$2.8 billion
3. SpectrumCo	$2.4 billion
4. MetroPCS	$1.4 billion
5. Cingular	$1.3 billion
6. Cricket	$710 million
7. Denali Spectrum	$365 million
8. Barat Wireless	$127 million
9. AWS Wireless	$116 million
10. Atlantic Wireless	$81 million
Click here to find out who is backing these bidders.