WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc. has settled a lingering shareholder class-action lawsuit for $29 million, according to lawyers for the shareholders.
The settlement, which RCR first learned of last week, was reached on Feb. 17.
Nextel did not return calls for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in March 1995, accused Nextel executives of insider trading and making false and misleading statements about the-then-nascent digital technology developed by Motorola Inc. that had early problems providing dispatch, telephony and messaging over small slices of spectrum on cellular-like networks.
The lawsuit said Nextel executives knew of such problems but continued to tout the technology and sold stock before it dropped. Accused at that time of insider trading were Nextel President Brian McAuley, Vice President Jack Markell and Executive Vice President Joel Schleicher.
Nextel has since worked out technical glitches, but has an even bigger spectrum problem today than before because of its rapid growth. That has led the heavily leveraged Reston, Va., firm to seek and attain a modification of a 1995 antitrust consent decree, which will allow Nextel to acquire more 800 MHz and 900 MHz channels.
In addition, Nextel for months has been vying for broadband wireless licenses of NextWave Telecom Inc., which is trying to emerge from bankruptcy.
