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To: MileHigh who wrote (103517)	8/31/2001 9:02:37 PM
From: Kayaker	Respond to of 152472

NextWave Gets Wireless Licenses By SARA SILVER, AP Business Writer Friday August 31 7:36 PM ET dailynews.yahoo.com NEW YORK (AP) - Under court order, the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) on Friday returned valuable wireless licenses to NextWave Telecom Inc., a bankrupt company fighting to retain control of its coveted spectrum. NextWave sued the FCC (news - web sites) for seizing the licenses, which were re-auctioned in January to the nation's top wireless providers for $16 billion - or $11 billion more than NextWave had agreed to pay for them in a special 1996 auction for small businesses. The company filed for bankruptcy after paying just $500 million toward the licenses to provide wireless services in lucrative metropolitan markets including New York, Seattle, Philadelphia and San Francisco. NextWave has just begun to build the network to support service; it claims limited service will be available next year. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the FCC to return the licenses, based on earlier rulings that the agency could not seize the property of a company reorganizing under bankruptcy protection. ``The company appreciates the swift manner in which the Wireless Bureau has implemented the court's mandate,'' said Michael Wack, deputy general counsel of the Hawthorne, N.Y.-based company. He called the action ``a big step toward putting the licenses into use to bring competition and new services to the public.'' The FCC is asking the Supreme Court to review the case. The high bidders to take over the coveted wireless spectrum petitioned the FCC Thursday to deny NextWave's licenses, claiming the company no longer qualifies as a small business since is has ceded control to its financial and technical backers. ``Its attempts to 'game' the guidelines have deprived consumers of this valuable wireless spectrum for way too long and have also denied the U.S. Treasury of much needed revenue,'' said Brian T. O'Connor, vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs at VoiceStream, one of the main U.S. providers of cellular service.