SEATTLE-McCaw International Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Nextel Communications Inc., announced it has purchased a 30 percent interest in Infocom Communications Network Inc., a wireless company in the Philippines.
McCaw International said it will invest about $16 million in cash in Infocom, which was recently granted a 25-year license by the Philippine government to provide wireless services throughout the island nation. The license allows Infocom to provide paging and specialized mobile radio service and gives the company the right to seek provisional authority to operate a personal communications network.
“The Philippines is a perfect profile for McCaw International. The government realizes a tremendous need to upgrade the infrastructure to support a growing economy, and only 2 percent of the country’s 67 million people have access to telecommunications,” said Keith Grinstein, McCaw International’s president and chief executive officer.
Infocom operates a nationwide paging business and has 100 pairs of 800 MHz SMR channels. The company plans to use those channels to implement a national digital network using Motorola Inc.’s integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network, the same technology Nextel is deploying in the United States, said McCaw International.
McCaw International’s other investments include an equity equivalent of a 25 percent stake in a growing digital wireless service in Shanghai, China, which currently has more than 17,000 customers.
