February 29, 2000 -- Friedman Kaplan partners Barry A. Adelman, D. Roger Glenn, and Lance J. Gotko represented VoiceStream Wireless Corporation (Nasdaq: VSTR) in its purchase of 9,590,000 newly issued Class A Shares of Microcell Telecommunications, Inc. (TSE: MTI.B; Nasdaq: MICT) for CAN$400 million. The per share transaction price was equal to the closing market price of Microcell's publicly traded Class B Non-Voting Shares on the Nasdaq National Market System on January 6, 2000.

VoiceStream's Class A shares constitute approximately 15% of the issued and outstanding equity securities of Microcell. These are non-voting and are convertible at any time into Common Shares, which are voting (subject to Canadian foreign ownership restrictions). If fully converted, these Common Shares would represent a 22.6% voting interest in Microcell. As part of the transaction, VoiceStream is entitled to designate two members to Microcell's Board of Directors.

Microcell plans to use the funds to help finance subscriber acquisition, digital network expansion, improving existing coverage, and upgrading the network to higher-speed data transmission technologies such as GPRS.

Based in Bellevue, Washington, VoiceStream Wireless is a leading provider of wireless communications services in the United States. VoiceStream Wireless, with Cook Inlet Region Inc., has licenses to provide service to over 175 million people with operating systems from New York to Hawaii. With licenses in 17 of the top 25 markets, VoiceStream is one of the major providers of telecommunications services in the country. VoiceStream is the largest provider of personal communications service using the globally dominant GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology in the United States. VoiceStream is a member of the North American GSM Alliance LLC, a group of U.S. and Canadian digital wireless PCS carriers. The GSM Alliance helps provide GSM wireless communications for their customers in more than 4,000 U.S. and Canadian cities and towns as well as international service.

Microcell is a Canadian wireless communications company with its head office in Montréal. Its PCS network serves 53% of the Canadian population. Its service is available under the Fido brand name in a number of centers including Québec, Sherbrooke, Montréal, Ottawa-Hull, Oshawa, St. Catharines-Niagara, Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria. Beyond its PCS footprint, Microcell offers analog roaming service in an area representing 94% of the Canadian population. As a member of the international GSM Association and the North American GSM Alliance, Microcell also offers roaming services in over 60 countries and in more than 3,200 U.S. cities.