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To: Rono who wrote (9604)	5/18/2000 6:42:00 PM
From: Rono	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10227

May 18, 2000 Dow Jones Newswires Nextwave Causes Heartburn In US Bankruptcy Bill Talks By DAWN KOPECKI WASHINGTON -- Of the handful of issues remaining to be resolved on the bankruptcy bill, one is giving lawmakers a particularly strong dose of heartburn this week, Republican and Democratic aides said. That's partly because the issue wasn't an issue for lawmakers a few months ago. The matter currently in dispute wasn't included in either the bankruptcy bill passed by the House in 1999 or the bankruptcy bill passed by the Senate earlier this year. In fact, it wasn't even discussed. But now lawmakers are being pushed and pulled between the White House, the Federal Communications Commission and high-powered lobbyists like Haley Barbour, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Powerful telecommunications companies like Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) and Nextel Communications Inc. (NXTL) have their own hired guns hot on the issue. The fuss is over would-be wireless communications provider Nextwave Telecom Inc. (X.NWV) and its valuable spectrum licenses that are currently hung up in a bankruptcy court fight with the FCC. Lawmakers crafting the new laws haven't officially changed anything in the bankruptcy bill to accommodate interested parties. But they have inserted a place holder in the bill in anticipation of having legislation designed specifically to affect the outcome of Nextwave's bankruptcy case. The administration has been quietly pushing lawmakers to change bankruptcy laws so the FCC can preempt court procedures and reclaim wireless licenses from Hawthorne, N.Y.-based Nextwave, which filed for bankruptcy late last year. Under current laws, the FCC is treated like any another creditor in a bankruptcy case and is subject to what is called an "automatic stay." That stops creditors from pursuing claims against those in bankruptcy and would normally allow Nextwave to keep its licenses as long as it works out a payment schedule with the bankruptcy judge, several bankruptcy attorneys and law professors said. The FCC has argued that, as a regulator, it should be able to reclaim the licenses once Nextwave began to fall behind on its payments, even if it filed for bankruptcy and offered to make good on past delinquencies. The licenses, bought at a 1996 auction for $4.7 billion, are now estimated to be worth upward of $10 billion. Any number of wireless providers, including SBC Communications Inc. (SBC) and Nextel Communications are waiting to snap up NextWave's near-national network of wireless licenses should the FCC re-auction them. Nextwave's licenses have been targeted in the past by congressional budgeters, looking to pad the U.S. Treasury's coffers by reselling the spectrum at a higher price. But this is the first time the bankruptcy bill has been singled out as to accomplish that task. But now, the FCC has recruited the White House and the Justice Department to help reclaim the licenses. Jacob Lew, director of the Executive Office of the President, sent over a letter to lawmakers May 12 that never mentioned Nextwave by name. But it did emphasize the administration's strong opposition to changes in bankruptcy law that would affect the policing powers of federal regulators. Nextel, who has expressed a strong interest in buying Nextwave's licenses, recently obtained the services of podesta.com to represent them on the issue, according to federal lobby disclosure records. The lobby firm's chairman, Anthony Podesta, is the brother of White House Chief of Staff John Podesta. Nextwave Isn't Without Its Own Friends. A network of silent Nextwave investors, called Bay Harbor Management, also recently hired Barbour's Pennsylvania Avenue lobby firm to act on Nextwave's behalf. Barbour, in fact, is so plugged in that he was the included in a bankruptcy meeting earlier this week with all the top Republican brass in the House and Senate as well as the principles involved in bankruptcy negotiations, a Republican aide said. In addition, House lawmakers key to bankruptcy negotiations are resolute in opposing the FCC. House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., and Ranking Democrat John Conyers of Michigan joined House bankruptcy bill sponsor Rep. George Gekas, R-Pa., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. sent the White House a bipartisan letter last week expressing their distaste for what the FCC is trying to do. Many involved in the bankruptcy bill say they think the issue will go away. "It isn't talked about much. I'm not saying it isn't talked about. It just isn't talked about in the circles I'm in," bill architect Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told Dow Jones Newswires. Other Nextwave investors, including Qualcomm and Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU), want Nextwave to keep its licenses and have also been seen in the halls of Congress lobbying on this issue, said a Democratic aide familiar with the issue. Republican leaders scheduled a meeting Thursday evening to try to iron out the rest of their differences on the bankruptcy bill.