NEW YORK-A New York City in-state reseller of long-distance wireline services did an about face with the advent of telecommunications deregulation here, changing its name and its mission to Russian Wireless Telephone Co. Inc.
In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it is looking to a planned initial public offering of 1.65 million shares at up to $7 each as its only funding source to construct a state-of-the-art wireless local loop system in five major cities. J.W. Barclay & Co. Inc. is lead underwriter for the proposed sale of stock, which will trade in the Nasdaq over-the-counter market.
“These are speculative securities involving a high degree of risk and immediate and substantial dilution,” the SEC registration documents said.
Earlier this year, the State Committee of the Russian Federation on Communications and Information granted Russian Wireless a wireless local loop license for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhy Novgorod and Ekateringburg.
The Moscow area, where the carrier already provides business customers with local and long-distance wireline services, will be built out first, the company said.
According to the latest available figures, more than 164,000 applicants were on a waiting list for wireline service in the Moscow region, Russian Wireless said in its SEC filings. At that time, the nationwide waiting list was 9.7 million, the company said.
Russian Wireless was organized in 1994 as Telecom Group USA Inc., which had New York State Public Service Commission certification as a landline long-distance telephone service reseller in the state.
“With passage of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the subsequent entry of long-distance carriers into [our] markets, the company began to phase out operations in New York and focus on international markets, especially the Russian Federation,” the preliminary prospectus said.
Besides changing its name to Russian Wireless, the company, which is incorporated in Delaware, bought a 75-percent stake in Corbina Telecommunications. Corbina, Comp Tel Ltd. and Investelekstrosvyaz are the three closed joint stock companies organized under Russian Federation laws that “own substantially all of [Russian Wireless’] assets,” the preliminary offering statement said.
