WASHINGTON-Bell Atlantic Corp. continues to study ways to take its wireless business public, said Dennis F. Strigl, chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic Global Wireless. Strigl also was a featured speaker at the Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. conference.
Strigl said a spinoff of Bell Atlantic’s wireless business in the form of an initial public offering remains “on the planning horizon.
“We have said before we are always looking for the opportunity to take that part of Bell Atlantic public.”
Bell Atlantic also remains committed to ending its PrimeCo PCS partnership with AirTouch Communications Inc. “With the close of the Vodafone (Group plc)-AirTouch merger, we will pull the trigger and exercise our right to dissolve PrimeCo,” Strigl commented.
Meanwhile, the chief executive said Bell Atlantic Global Wireless, which includes the company’s domestic and foreign wireless operations, sees “a number of opportunities, as we look at the United States, to fill in our national footprint. “We expect to see the (government’s) spectrum caps eased, and we plan to buy new or existing spectrum to enhance our footprint.”
