FCC Gives C-Block PCS Licensees More Time To Pay
By Heather Fleming at Bloomberg News
25-FEB-98
The US Federal Communications Commission gave small companies that won next- generation cellular licenses more time to decide how they'll pay for the licenses.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ The move also gave the agency itself time to mull over potential changes to its debt-payment options.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ The FCC is considering changing a plan to help smaller companies pay for their so-called personal communications services, or PCS, licenses they won at auction two years ago, FCC officials said. Because changes could make a significant difference for license-holders, the FCC pushed back the decision- date from February 26 to 60 days after the FCC publishes its revised payment option plan in the Federal Register.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ FCC commissioner Susan Ness said she agreed "reluctantly" to the extension because she's opposed to prolonging the reconsideration process. "Continuing to consider changes to our rules delays the marketplace certainty that must exist in order for systems to be financed and constructed," she said in a statement.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ The commission last September voted to give a second chance to companies having trouble raising money to pay for their PCS licenses and build their networks.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ Only companies with less than $125 million in annual revenue were permitted to bid on these particular licenses, so they were given special financing terms, including installment payments, that other PCS companies didn't have. Still, after bidding $10.2 billion for 493 "C-Block" licenses, winning bidders asked the commission for more help meeting their payments. The agency came up with a plan last September to help the companies, but NextWave Telecom Inc., General Wireless Inc. and other license winners said it didn't go far enough.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ "The commission is seriously considering affording the C- block bidders more flexibility consistent with the options in the original order," FCC chairman William Kennard said in a statement issued last week.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ The agency is considering a proposal to let companies pick market-by-market which licenses they want to keep and reducing their debt by a proportional amount. The five FCC commissioners are also looking at whether license holders that hand-back licenses should have to forfeit a 10% down payment.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ Under the FCC's original plan, license winners can restart their debt payment on an installment plan, return the licenses and forfeit their down payments, hand back half the airwaves they are licensed to use in exchange for halving their debt, or pay up front for as many licenses as they can afford, with 70% of the company's down payment counted against the payment.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ The FCC today decided to push back the date licensees would resume making their installment payments, if that's the option they chose, from March 31, 1998, to "a date at least 30 days after the revised election date" for selecting a debt-payment option, the agency said.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ The agency voted to give the license holders the payment options before Kennard and three new FCC commissioners were sworn in to office late last year. Ness, the sole hold-over from the five-person panel, opposes significant changes to the rules. |
