Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : CellularVision (CVUS): 2-way LMDS wireless cable. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steven Bowen who wrote (1041)	2/6/1998 8:50:00 PM
From: Night Writer	Respond to of 2063

Court decision on LECs. Subj: FCC Wireless Restrictions Upheld Date: 98-02-06 17:14:28 EST FCC Wireless Restrictions Upheld .c The Associated Press By JEANNINE AVERSA WASHINGTON (AP) - Local telephone and cable companies lost an attempt in federal court Friday to bid without restriction on licenses to offer phone, television and Internet services through new wireless technology. The court's decision, hailed by the Federal Communications Commission, is timely. The FCC plans to auction licenses for the new technology called local multipoint distribution service, or LMDS, starting Feb. 18. The new wireless service is delivered in a way that closely resembles cellular phone service. But to receive phone, television or data services, customers need a small receiver dish in or near a window. The United States Telephone Association, which represents local phone companies, was among the groups challenging the FCC's order, issued last year. ''USTA will use every means possible whether congressional, regulatory or judicial to correct this misguided decision,'' the organization said. To encourage newcomers, the FCC barred cable and local phone companies from bidding on one of two licenses in markets where they already provide service. Licenses they are not allowed to bid on are for a large slice of the airwaves, 1,150 megahertz. The ones that they can bid on are for a smaller, but still considerable band of 150 megahertz. The FCC said, however, that companies could buy licenses from other parties after three years. Local phone companies argued that the FCC's decision restricting them from bidding on the LMDS licenses was a departure from previous rules and should be overturned. They argued that the FCC had not barred them from acquiring other licenses - such as ones to provide cellular service and a new mobile phone service called personal communications, or PCS, in markets where they provide local phone service. Disagreeing with their assessment, the United States Court Appeals for the District of Columbia turned down local phone companies' requests for the court to review the FCC's order. ''We find that the commission has adequately explained why it came to a different conclusion about LEC (local exchange carrier) eligibility in the case of LMDS than it reached in earlier cases involving different technologies,'' the court said. The 1,150 megahertz license marks the single-biggest license for a company to occupy a swathe of the airwaves that the FCC has ever issued. A single license allows a company to simultaneously provide 16,000 phone calls and 200 video channels. The FCC argued that this unprecedented capacity made it ''extremely wary about the possibility'' that local phone companies would not use LMDS licenses to offer services to compete against their local phone service. Local phone companies ''have not shown that the FCC's conclusion ... that the LECs (local exchange carriers) would likely resist competing against themselves in the telephone market is unreasonable,'' the court said. AP-NY-02-06-98 1709EST

To: Steven Bowen who wrote (1041)	2/6/1998 9:51:00 PM
From: Bernard Levy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2063

Hi Steven: Two observations: a) The small number of large bidders raises the likelihood that one or two of them (WNP and Nextband) will succeed in securing most of the largest licenses. This would give them the large national footprint that would allow them to compete against WCII and TGNT. May be Jack Reagan had a better understanding of the LMDS auction than he was credited for on the WCII thread. b) I am shocked by the absence of WebCel and US Wavelink from the list of qualified bidders. Both companies were set up as LMDS companies. If they do not bid now, they might as well close their doors (which they may well be in the process of doing). The 39GHz auction is still about a year away, and the 39GHz band will be harder to use for LMDS services, due to the higher density of hubs required. Overall, I am disappointed that LMDS remains such an underestimated technology. Regards, Bernard Levy