Aerie considers buying Metricom equipment

Fiber-optics network owner Aerie Networks is negotiating to buy half of the equipment Metricom used to provide its Richochet wireless Internet service. A deal could be finalized as early as next week to let Aerie gain ownership of Metricom’s equipment in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, California and Colorado.

With the equipment, Aerie could relaunch the wireless Internet service in those six states. However, additional details of the deal--including whether Aerie bought the radio spectrum Metricom used to operate the network--have not been released.

--Kelly Carroll, staff writer