NextWave reaches licensing settlement
By Reuters
November 16, 2001, 8:55 a.m. PT
Major mobile telephone companies will get valuable airwaves from bankrupt
NextWave Telecom in a $15.85 billion settlement signed with the federal
government, U.S. regulators said on Friday.
Under the deal, bankrupt NextWave will receive $5.85 billion after taxes, the
government will reap $10 billion, while Verizon Wireless and partners of AT&T
Wireless Services and Cingular Wireless can fill gaps in mobile coverage with the
licenses that had belonged to NextWave, according to the Federal
Communications Commission.
"It is a deal that serves the public interest, for it will get licenses out from under
litigation and into the market, where the public will benefit from improved service
quality, enhanced coverage and greater reliability," said FCC Chairman Michael
Powell.
Powell said the deal will require ratification by the U.S. Justice Department and an
act of Congress to implement it.
The major carriers bid $15.85 billion in January for the licenses but that sale was
put in limbo when a federal court ruled the licenses belonged to NextWave, which
had originally bid $4.7 billion for them. |
