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Technology Stocks : Nextwave Telecom Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rono who wrote (572)	11/16/2001 12:17:47 PM
From: JohnG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1088

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.

To: Rono who wrote (572)	11/16/2001 4:02:12 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1088

Ron, the FCC did nothing and neither did Congress, to get their grasping paws on the money from the sale of the spectrum. The people who created the value were Allen Salmasi and his QUALCOMM colleagues who invented and commercialized CDMA. They are the ones who should get the money from the value of their creation. To get CDMA implemented, they shared that value by licensing manufacturers of equipment. By undervaluing CDMA when setting royalties, QUALCOMM left a lot on the table so the FCC was able to capture a large part of that residual value when people realized just how valuable mobile services and therefore spectrum is. If QUALCOMM had charged royalties at just the right level, there would have been plenty of value for the service providers and equipment makers to make a big profit but not enough for the FCC to get a huge windfall gain. The idea that the public is being diddled is false. Property rights and legal protection of property rights and a robust judicial system have made the USA wealthy. Erosion of property rights will soon see the USA go down the gurgler. Nextwave has a property right in that spectrum. The courts have confirmed that. Congress and other envy merchants whining about it should get a real job or do something creative themselves. Nextwave bid what were considered huge prices at auction in 1996. Those were NOT speculation bids. Why sell the spectrum to the FCC? Obviously Nextwave thinks they can do something better with the money than just roll out another CDMA terrestrial network in C-Block spectrum. There is no reason for them to continue with what they think isn't the best idea. The Koreans, Chinese and GSM Guild whining about CDMA royalties have obviously not understood the situation either. Since Allen Salmasi was instrumental in producing CDMA and so were other shareholders in Nextwave [QUALCOMM for example], if anyone should capture the value from the spectrum auction it is Nextwave. They are being ripped off to the tune of $10 billion by the FCC selling their spectrum rights to other companies. The FCC and Congress are the bandits in this picture. Mqurice