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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE
SECURITES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):
July 16, 1998
METROMEDIA FIBER NETWORK, INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
DELAWARE 000-23269 11-3168327
(State or other jurisdiction (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer
of incorporation) Identification No.)
C/O METROMEDIA FIBER NETWORK SERVICES, INC.
1 NORTH LEXINGTON AVENUE, WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK 10601
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
(914) 421-6700
(Registrant's telephone number, include area code)
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METROMEDIA FIBER NETWORK, INC.
Item 5. Other Events
On July 16, 1998, the Company issued a press release (the "Release"),
a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1, announcing a major expansion
into the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley, and the establishment of
inter-city links connecting Chicago to the West Coast. The Release is
incorporated by reference herein and made a part hereof. The Company believes
that the San Francisco Bay area expansion will be completed within 24 months,
although there can be no assurance that the project will be completed in this
period. The Company is currently engaged in the planning process for
construction of the expansion, and is also assessing the amount and nature of
additional financing that will be required to implement the expansion plan.
Item 7. Financial Statements, Pro Forma Financial Information and
Exhibits.
(c) Exhibits
99.1 Press Release, dated July 16, 1998
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
Dated: July 16, 1998
METROMEDIA FIBER NETWORK, INC.
By: /s/ Gerard Benedetto
-----------------------------------
Gerard Benedetto
Vice President, Chief Financial
Officer & Chief Accounting Officer
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EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit No. Description of Exhibits
99.1 Press Release, dated July 16, 1998, by Metromedia Fiber
Network, Inc.
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EXHIBIT 99.1
METROMEDIA FIBER NETWORK GOES WEST,
ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXPANSION INTO
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA AND SILICON VALLEY
Company Also Gains Inter-city Links Connecting East and West Coasts
New York--July 16, 1998--Metromedia Fiber Network, Inc. (MFNX:Nasdaq) today
announced plans to expand its intra-city dark fiber network infrastructure to a
strategic West Coast corridor, adding the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon
Valley to the growing list of Tier One markets in which the Company plans to
offer local fiber optic infrastructure. The planned network is intended to
cover in excess of 150 route miles, ringing the Bay Area, including many vital
Silicon Valley cities, such as San Jose and Santa Clara, and encompassing key
areas in downtown San Francisco. The Company has recently signed a conduit
agreement within the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) right-of-way for a portion of
the network and plans to start the fiber optic build process immediately.
The Company also announced the signing of a fiber swap agreement with fONOROLA,
a leading Canadian telecommunications company, and fiber swap and related
agreements with Pacific Fiber Link, L.L.C., enabling Metromedia Fiber Network to
connect its existing fiber optic infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor and
Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area. These agreements will give the Company
the ability to provide seamless connectivity from coast to coast. Customers
utilizing Metromedia Fiber Network's intra-city infrastructure on both coasts
will be able to use the Company's inter-city links to connect locations in San
Francisco to locations in Chicago and New York and across the Atlantic Ocean to
London.
"This expansion means that carriers and corporations, including the high-tech
companies in San Francisco and Silicon Valley's data-intensive communities, will
be able to take advantage of our unique unmetered, unlimited bandwidth offering,
which is already being met with great enthusiasm in the Northeast," said Howard
Finkelstein, President of Metromedia Fiber Network. "Increasingly organizations
want to implement the latest high-tech applications, and our service offerings
allow them to increase bandwidth as they need it in order to utilize advanced
technologies, such as ATM or voice over IP, in a cost-effective way. When
completed, our network infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Area will allow
us to provide major organizations throughout the region with a high capacity
on-ramp to the information superhighway."
Metromedia Fiber Network's intra-city networks are being constructed in major
Tier One markets, connecting key corporate centers, government buildings, and
the major switching centers of local and long distance carriers. The networks
employ state-of-the-art fiber optic infrastructure and a ring configuration to
provide customers with diverse routing.
"By expanding into the San Francisco Bay Area, we will have established the
necessary foothold to launch a West Coast network mirroring our current network
in the Northeast. We expect to continue to expand the number of intra-city
networks in Tier One cities in the future, enhancing
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our position as the company that is eliminating the bandwidth barrier for the
largest users of communications services," Finkelstein said.
Headquartered in the New York area, Metromedia Fiber Network provides
technologically advanced, high-bandwidth, private, fiber optic communications
infrastructure within major U.S. markets. The Company provides its
infrastructure to communications carriers competing in the local, long distance,
wireless, and Internet markets as well as corporate and government customers
requiring secure communications networks for the transmission of large amounts
of voice, data, and video. Metromedia Fiber Network currently operates a fiber
optic metropolitan area network in New York and is developing local fiber
optictly operates a fiber optic metropolitan area network in New York and is
developing local fiber optic-bandwidth, private, fiber optic communications
infrastructure within major U.S. markets. The Company provides its
infrastructure to communications carrier and will begin providing international
bandwidth capacity between the United States and the United Kingdom in 1998. For
more information about Metromedia Fiber Network, please visit the company's Web
site at www.mmfn.com.
THIS NEWS RELEASE CONTAINS CERTAIN FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS THAT INVOLVE RISKS
AND UNCERTAINTIES. FACTORS THAT COULD CAUSE OR CONTRIBUTE TO SUCH RISKS AND
UNCERTAINTIES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, GENERAL ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS
CONDITIONS, COMPETITION, CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY AND METHODS OF MARKETING, AND
VARIOUS OTHER FACTORS BEYOND THE COMPANY'S CONTROL. THIS ALSO INCLUDES SUCH
FACTORS AS DESCRIBED FROM TIME TO TIME IN THE SEC REPORTS FILED BY METROMEDIA
FIBER NETWORK, INCLUDING THE MOST RECENTLY FILED FORM 10-Q.
MEDIA RELATIONS INVESTOR RELATIONS
Judy Sweeney/David King Eric Leeds
G. S. Schwartz & Co. G. A. Kraut Company Inc.
212-725-4500 212-696-5600
[email protected]
