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Technology Stocks : Nextwave Telecom Inc.
WAVE 8.150-0.9%Nov 11 3:59 PM EST
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To: Dennis Roth who wrote (799)5/8/2002 6:18:26 PM
From: Dennis Roth  Read Replies (1) of 1088
 
New NextWave Negotiations Begin
dc.internet.com

By Roy Mark

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department
of Justice (DoJ) have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that
allowing NextWave Telecom to keep its wireless licenses after it failed to
meet its obligations under its winning spectrum bid is not in the public
interest.

In 1996, the Hawthorne, N.Y.-based NextWave submitted a winning bid of
$4.7 billion for a chunk of wireless spectrum being auctioned by the FCC.
When NextWave failed to meet its payment obligations and filed for
bankruptcy, the FCC seized the spectrum licenses and held another
auction, bringing in another $16 billion in bids.

Subsequently, a bankruptcy court ruled that the FCC did not have the authority to repossess the
NextWave licenses, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court last year. The federal appeal is now
pending before the Supreme Court, prompting the briefs submitted by the FCC and the DoJ earlier this
week. NextWave is expected to file its briefs next month.

In their briefs, the FCC and the DoJ said the power to allocate spectrum belongs to the government
and not the courts. The government attorneys said the court's decision to interfere in the spectrum
auction process has unduly delayed the ability of the government to ration scarce resources.

As the lawyers did their legal maneuverings, representatives from NextWave, Verizon Wireless and
other winners of the second auction met in Sen. Ted Stevens (R. Alaska) office on Tuesday in hopes
of reviving last year's failed compromise negotiations.

In the wake of last year's court order tossing out the second spectrum auction results, the FCC sought
to broker a $16 billion compromise but the agreement fell apart when Congress failed to pass legislation
needed to ratify the deal.
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