Sprint Corporation, a leading mobile network operator in US has sold its 900 MHz spectrum licenses (approximately 6 MHz nationwide) to Pacific DataVision Inc (PDV), a company led by the co-founders of Nextel Communications, Morgan O'Brien and Brian McAuley. PDV is positioned to offer mobile push-to-talk radio service in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States. As part of the transaction, Sprint received $10 million in the form of PDV common stock at the same price per share as paid by PDV's institutional investors.
PDV, a company that provides mobile workforce management solutions said that it has received FCC approval for the acquisition. In its statement, PDV said that at present, it is the only nationwide licensee of spectrum focused on launching a state-of-the-art two-way radio network dedicated solely to serving enterprises, especially dispatch-orientated small and medium sized businesses.
According to PDV, it has raised over USD218 million in equity funding in a private placement with institutional investors. Morgan has joined PDV as Vice Chairman, leading the Company’s spectrum strategies and utilization enhancement efforts, added PDV.
“Morgan and I are proud of the role we played in building Nextel into a carrier focused on the needs of the enterprise community. With the availability of Motorola Solutions’ digital radio technology, we see an opportunity to incorporate PDV’s proprietary cloud-based mobile resource management solutions into a next generation offering for businesses. These solutions increase productivity through the delivery of real-time information from and about mobile workers to their managers.”
- Brian McAuley, Chairman, PDV
"We have brought together an extraordinarily talented team of telecommunications industry veterans whose singular focus is on becoming the nation’s most business-centric, value-oriented communications solutions provider. In addition to supporting and growing our existing wireless solutions business, we will be launching the largest private push-to-talk network in major markets throughout the United States.”
- John C. Pescatore, PDV’s Chief Executive Officer
"By acquiring Sprint’s nationwide spectrum at 900 MHz, we take on the challenge of making the most efficient use of that spectrum. The selection of Motorola Solutions’ digital radio technology is the first step in that process. We will continue to explore ways to further improve spectrum efficiency.”
- Morgan O’Brien, VIce Chairman, PDV
