Frontline Fails to Get Financing

WIRELESS START-UP FAILS TO GET FINANCING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
Frontline Wireless, which wanted to build an innovative cellular network for both private use and local public safety agencies, has collapsed because it could not raise enough money to bid in the government auctions of wireless spectrum that start later this month. The company’s failure raises questions about the ability of the auctions to raise the $14 billion or more that the federal government wants in exchange for the broadcast spectrum that will be freed next year by the shift from analog to digital television. Last month, Frontline filed an application to participate in the auction. But it was not able to make the required deposit of $128 million that was due last Thursday. Frontline was started by Reed E. Hundt, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, along with veteran wireless executives and a group of elite Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The company was backed by L. John Doerr, the venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; James L. Barksdale, the former chief executive of Netscape Communications; and K. Ram Shriram, the former Netscape executive who was also an early backer of Google and is now a managing partner of Sherpalo Ventures. The company’s chief executive was Haynes Griffin, the former chief executive of Vanguard Cellular Systems, which was acquired by AT&T. Despite these connections, and a year spent lobbying to create a range of frequencies intended specifically for a combination of private service and public safety communications, Frontline failed in frenzied negotiations in recent weeks to find the financial backing it needed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/technology/09wireless.html?ref=todaysp...
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