As part of its ongoing fiscal fitness plan, Network Access Solutions [NASC] finessed a deal with SBC Communications [SBC] that relieves the Herndon, Va.-based DSL systems provider of a $75 million debt.

NAS will give 400 unused central offices, which it owns in the southern and western United States, to SBC in exchange for SBC's cancellation of the debt. SBC acquired that debt last March when it purchased 2.6 million shares of NAS preferred stock, then valued at $31 per share. The Series B 7-percent preferred stock will be converted to common stock worth about $2.3 million.

On Friday, NAS was trading at 87 cents per share. It has traded as high as $40 in the past year.

Last November, NAS laid off 145 employees as part of a belt-tightening plan designed to slow down the company's cash-burn rate. The arrangement with SBC fits in with NAS' long-term plan to eventually turn a profit, said NAS spokeswoman Debra Arrington.