American Tower expects to sell capacity on the towers to Alltel and other mobile phone companies.
Transwestern provided two companies, Richardson Products and Sempra Energy Trading, with advance notice that it would be selling capacity last year.
A specialist company, LightSquared, is selling capacity on its high-speed wireless network at wholesale rates to niche carriers.
The cash will be used to fund the design, construction and launch Hyas 3, its third satellite which will sell capacity to telecoms companies and internet service providers.
Its troubles immediately affected Global Crossing, which sells capacity on its fiber optic network to Exodus and guarantees some of Exodus's real estate leases.
But they also sell capacity: each utility that serves customers has to go into the wholesale market and buy not only energy but the actual availability of generation.
"The new capacity was based on pre-9/11 assumption, but the industry has always been able to sell capacity; the only question is at what price you sell it," said Andy Stuart, senior vice president for marketing and sales at Norwegian Cruise Lines.
El Paso was negotiating to sell capacity under long-term contracts at the time and did not want short-term agreements to interfere with sales of higher-priced long-term contracts, he said.
Since last May, the company's subsidiary, Epik Communications, has been selling capacity to move digital information through fiber optic cables that run alongside chugging train cars piled high with crushed stone, building materials and vehicles.
The fiber optic networks being bought from Level 3, based in Broomfield, Colo., will connect 21 major European cities. Nextlink, which is based in McLean, Va., builds fiber optic networks and sells capacity on them to phone and Internet companies.
