NEW YORK-“With respect to the status of our strategic partnering, we are pleased to say we
have received written proposals from four (companies) and may receive more shortly,” Douglas G. Smith,
chairman and chief executive officer of Omnipoint Corp., said during a conference call last week to announce the
company’s financial results.
“I can’t reveal their identities, but they are both domestic and foreign, and all are
large and international in scope. Each would bring significant value in addition to equity to help with our balance
sheet.”
Smith further said Omnipoint is negotiating “to go straight to definitive documents,”
adding that the deal “could involve sequential transactions.”
Omnipoint Corp., Bethesda, Md., is the
parent of personal communications services provider Omnipoint Communications Services, which closed 1998 with
378,000 subscribers, of which 107,000 were added during the fourth quarter.
The corporation reported a year-end
1998 loss of $677.73 million compared with $321.01 million for 1997. It also reported a loss of $206.84 million for the
latest fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $119.18 million for the last quarter of 1997.
Omnipoint said two
“extraordinary items” increased its losses in the last quarter of 1998: “return and restructuring of C-
block licenses … and accounting adjustment during the fourth quarter related to the treatment of the joint operating
arrangement in Wichita, Kan.”
However, total revenue for 1998 was $172.5 million, more than triple 1997
revenue of $52 million. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 1998 was $54.1 million, an increase of 129 percent from
fourth quarter 1997 revenues of $23.7 million.
Excluding $53 million set aside for convertible preferred equity, the
carrier announced it had available cash on hand of $238 million, in addition to $514 million available in vendor
financing.
Through an entity known as OPCS Three L.L.C., Omnipoint was expected to bid last week for Federal
Communications Commission radio-frequency licenses in Chicago. Its advantage in the license bidding and subsequent
network build-out process is its access to capital. Possession of the Chicago license also would make Omnipoint more
attractive to potential suitors, securities analysts said.
