Craig McCaw Saves the Day
So what do you think of Craig McCaw investing C$50-million in Microcell Telecommunications Inc., the ugly-duckling of Canada's wireless market? It's a bit of a head-scratcher because McCaw has not been an active investor north of the border - aside from his ownership of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team. From the sidelines, it looks like McCaw could have two goals: 1. by taking a major ownership stake before Canada's foreign-ownership rules disappear, it could let McCaw increase his holdings in the future while having initimate knowledge of Microcell's operations; 2. it will give him insight into a high-speed wireless joint venture Microcell is doing with Allstream Inc. and NR Communications LLC. NR, by the way, is run by Nick Kauzer, who was McCaw's right-hand technology-man before McCaw Cellular Communications was sold to AT&T Corp. in 1994.
