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Technology Stocks : Global Crossing - GX (formerly GBLX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SecularBull who wrote (4158)	1/31/2000 8:56:00 PM
From: TechMkt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15615

This is HUGE. This gives GBLX a MUCH,MUCH better chance of getting access to these licenses. Although the FCC will appeal I think GBLX still stands to profit. Fez ________________________ U.S. Bankruptcy Court blocks FCC on NextWave WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court Monday rejected the Federal Communications Commission's move to cancel dozens of valuable wireless telephone licenses held by bankrupt carrier NextWave Telecom Inc. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York prevented the FCC from moving to reauction the licenses, which NextWave had won at government auctions in 1996 for more than $4.8 billion. Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin called the FCC's Jan. 12 announcement cancelling NextWave's licenses ``self-help repossession by ambush', adding ``it is repugnant to the very essence of the Bankruptcy Code'. The FCC had tried to argue that the cancellation actually occured years earlier when NextWave failed to abide by the agency's payment schedule. Hardin cited numerous recent instances, however, in which FCC attorneys spoke as if NextWave still owned the licenses and was protected from cancellation by bankruptcy laws. A spokeswoman for the FCC said the agency was reviewing the decision but planned to appeal. Last year, a U.S. Appeals Court overturned the bankruptcy court's initial finding that the FCC had committed fraud in selling the licenses to NextWave. Monday's decision follows years of legal wrangling over the licenses won by NextWave and others at the 1996 auctions, which were intended to stimulate new wireless competitors. NextWave, like other leading bidders, was unable to pay for its winning bids and filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998. The Hawthorne, N.Y.-based carrier's holdings included rights to offer wireless phone services in leading cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. After announcing new equity investments in December from Global Crossing Ltd. and Liberty Media Group, NextWave had pledged to pay all it owed for the licenses. On Jan. 12, however, the FCC announced that NextWave's licenses had been canceled for non-payment and would be reauctioned in July. More established carriers were eager to bid for the licenses, including Nextel Communications Inc. of Reston, Va., and SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio, Texas. But both carriers would have needed special waivers from the FCC to bid at the reauction, which was reserved for small and upstart carriers. 18:44 01-31-00