NextWave looking to sell U.S. spectrum: Company hires investment bankers to explore options

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: NextWave Wireless Inc. said today it’s exploring the sale of its U.S. spectrum holdings.
The company made its mark on wireless in the mid-90s by being the top bidder for extensive 1.9 GHz spectrum covering most of the country, then filing for bankruptcy protection after failing to pay for the winnings, and finally selling off most of the spectrum to Cingular Wireless L.L.C., MetroPCS Communications Inc. and Verizon Wireless.
NextWave used proceeds from the spectrum sale to enter a number of businesses, including the WiMAX chipset market, as well as again boosting its spectrum holdings through acquisitions and Federal Communications Commission auctions.
Today, NextWave said it hired Deutsche Bank and UBS Investments to explore the sale of its current spectrum portfolio.
According to NextWave, that current portfolio includes 154 licenses in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band that it acquired during 2006’s advanced wireless services auction, 30 licenses in the 2.3 GHz band and 22 licenses in the 2.5 GHz band. In total, NextWave said the portfolio covers 251 million potential customers.
The news sent NextWave’s stock skyrocketing more than 25% in early Thursday trading to around $6 per share.
NextWave’s CEO Allen Salmasi noted in a press release that, following the recently completed 700 MHz spectrum auction, the company has received “multiple offers for our U.S. spectrum assets.”
Salmasi added: “Given our continued success in developing highly differentiated wireless broadband and multimedia-enabled products, we no longer view our spectrum holdings as critical to reaching our product sales objectives, and believe that now is the perfect time for us to sell these valuable assets while network operators are trying to finalize their band plans and spectrum holdings for their continuing 3G and planned 4G rollouts.”
NextWave did not put a price tag on its for-sale spectrum.
During this month’s CTIA Wireless 2008 trade show, Salmasi talked extensively about the company’s plans for its chip business as well as its moves into WiMAX technology and mobile entertainment. NextWave also recently joined some infrastructure heavyweights in an agreement to work on licensing intellectual property rights for Long Term Evolution technology.