Verizon Wireless Pulls Out of Effort To Revive NextWave Spectrum Deal
WASHINGTON -- The main player in the stalled NextWave Telecom Inc. wireless-spectrum settlement withdrew from negotiations, ending the possibility of reviving the controversial $16 billion deal.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, told the 12 other companies struggling to salvage a settlement that it was dropping out, said Daniel O. Pegg, senior vice president of public affairs for Leap Wireless International Inc., a small San Diego wireless carrier that is one of the other companies.
However, Verizon left open the possibility it could return to the negotiations if it can retrieve a $1.7 billion deposit it placed with the government last February on its $8.7 billion bid for NextWave spectrum licenses reauctioned by the government.
"We will not discuss other options until we receive our deposits back,"' said Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless. "Under these circumstances, we are not interested in a new negotiated settlement." The company estimates the impasse has cost it tens of millions of dollars in lost interest.
Wireless Providers Ask for Return of $3.1 Billion in Down Payments (Jan. 7)
The other companies had pressed Verizon for its position on the deal during a conference call earlier in the week as part of the carriers' efforts to retrieve $3.1 billion they deposited with the Federal Communications Commission in connection with the NextWave spectrum, Mr. Pegg said. The carriers last Friday asked the FCC to return their deposits.
The original deal would have permitted the carriers to keep the licenses and would have allowed NextWave to collect $6 billion and the government to collect $10 billion. That fell apart, however, after Congress failed to pass necessary legislation by a Dec. 31 deadline. Despite strong opposition in Congress, many of the wireless companies had been optimistic the deal could be salvaged.
The apparent collapse of the deal ensures that the long controversy over the spectrum will continue. NextWave bid $4.7 billion for the licenses in 1996, but sought bankruptcy-court protection after paying only $500 million to the government. The FCC took back the spectrum for nonpayment and auctioned it off early last year.
The negotiations include all of the nation's major wireless carriers, but Verizon had by far the largest stake in the auction. |
