Volpe Brown Whelan Announces Investment Opinion on Next Level Communications

Business Wire, Dec 6, 1999

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 1999--

Volpe Brown Whelan & Company Initiates

Coverage of Next Level Communications With a `BUY' Rating

The following is being issued by Volpe Brown Whelan & Company (VBW), a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers, CRD number 18329:

Volpe Brown Whelan & Co.'s telecom equipment analyst, Tim Savageaux, today initiated coverage of Next Level Communications (Nasdaq: NXTV) with a BUY rating. Next Level is a significant emerging systems supplier in the carrier infrastructure market with a major presence among the incumbent local telcos in the United States such as US WEST and Bell Atlantic.

"We are initiating coverage of Next Level with a BUY rating because we believe the shares offer best-of-breed exposure to three major drivers of telco capital investment (i) increasing competition for residential subscribers among local telephone and cable companies on the basis of bundled services; (ii) rising investment in telco access networks to unlock local loop bandwidth bottlenecks; and (iii) the transition of carrier networks to cell/packet orientation," said Savageaux.

"We expect Next Level's solution to emerge as the integrated access technology of choice for telcos seeking to offer bundled voice, data, and video services," said Savageaux. "We believe a number of factors will influence the continued rollout of broadband systems over the coming years with the primary driver being the increasing threat to telco's current customer base from cable operators offering bundled services of their own."

Clients interested in receiving more information on Next Level Communications should contact their Volpe Brown Whelan & Company salesperson at 415/274-4400.

About Volpe Brown Whelan & Company

Volpe Brown Whelan & Company is the leading investment bank focused exclusively on technology and health care. Based in San Francisco, VBW's understanding of the competitive and technical factors that shape its clients' businesses enables the firm to identify compelling investment opportunities, provide superior research insight, and offer sound strategic and financial advice. Since 1992, VBW has managed or comanaged more than 220 public offerings, raising more than $11.9 billion and has advised clients on more than 70 merger and acquisition transactions with an aggregate value of more than $8 billion.

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