Verizon to sell wireless processing unit

NEW YORK: Verizon Communications said on Monday that it agreed to sell TSI

Telecommunication Services Inc., a unit that helps carriers process and bill

wireless telephone calls, for about $800 million in cash as it continues to shed

businesses outside of its core telephone operations.

Verizon, the No. 1 US local telephone company, said it was selling the unit

to GTCR Golder Rauner LLC, a private equity investment firm based in Chicago.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2002.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and to fund Verizon's

high-growth areas, which include wireless and data services.

TSI helps wireless telephone companies manage and bill for millions of calls

by tracking how and when calls are completed, whether a call "roams"

or travels over a competitors' network, and what fees must be exchanged between

carriers. It also operates a signaling system that helps carriers keep track of

their network performance in real time.

TSI serves 260 companies worldwide, including nine of the 10 largest wireless

carriers in North America. About 750 of its 800 employees are located in Tampa,

Florida.

GTCR manages more than $4 billion of equity capital invested in transaction

processing services, communication services and information technology services.

It said Edward Evans will leave his position as president and chief operating

officer of Dobson Communications Corp. to become TSI's chief executive.

Verizon's decision to sell TSI was "driven by Verizon's need to remain

sharply focused on residential and business services," Tom Bartlett,

president of Verizon Global Solutions, said in a statement. Verizon has been

shedding noncore assets in recent years. The company in October agreed to sell

about 600,000 telephone lines in Kentucky to rural telephone company Alltel

Corp. for $1.9 billion in cash.

(C) Reuters Limited.