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To: DWB who wrote (9379)	3/25/1998 2:53:00 AM
From: Asterisk	Respond to of 152472

Check this out, got it from wired news. WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission offered a more flexible bail-out plan today for financially strapped companies that won valuable spectrum licenses in 1996. Eighty-seven firms bid US$10.2 billion in the 1996 C-block auction of licenses to offer the advanced Personal Communications Services, or PCS. But the high prices bid and a dearth of investors put a financial squeeze on the leading companies that won licenses. The key change to the FCC's plan, revised from a proposal issued in September, allows companies to choose different bail-out options for different geographical regions. Under last year's plan, for example, a company could not keep licenses for one city and give back licenses for other cities. The revised plan now available to all the troubled PCS firms is similar to a reorganization plan the FCC endorsed on Monday for bankrupt Pocket Communications, the second leading bidder at the auction. That plan allowed the sale of licenses for Chicago and Dallas to a group including Ericsson and Siemens Telecom Networks with other licenses returned to the government. "For the original Pocket license holders, who are now out of the wireless business, bankruptcy has been a disaster," FCC Chairman William Kennard said. "I hope that today's order will help others avoid the same experience." NextWave Telecom Inc., Pocket, and General Wireless Inc. - the top three bidders - together account for more than $7 billion in winning licenses. Pocket and General filed for bankruptcy last year. Like last year's plan, the FCC's revised plan allows companies to choose from among four options. A company may resume paying for its licenses over 10 years, pay for all licenses immediately, return the licenses to the government without penalty, or keep licenses in one spectrum band and return those for another. Nextwave said it was reviewing the revised plan. "Nextwave will review the full range of restructuring alternatives that the FCC is making available and will make its decision by the date prescribed by the FCC," the company said in a statement. The FCC said all bidders must decide which options to choose within 60 days. The agency also postponed indefinitely conducting a new auction to sell any spectrum licenses returned under the bail-out plan. Commissioner Susan Ness, the only member of the five-person panel who considered last September's plan, voted against the new plan's revisions, calling them "excessive and potentially counterproductive". "Judges and legislators, lawyers and economists all speak to the need to promote competition, not competitors," Ness said in a statement. "Today's decision crosses the lines to favor specific competitors over others." ____________________________________________________________________ Kennard Calls on Global Competition, Capital Reuters 9:22am 24.Mar.98.PST VALLETTA, Malta - Creating a truly global information community depends on private capital, competition, and independent regulatory regimes, the United States' chief communications regulator told a world meeting on developing communications. "These are the essential ingredients for achieving universal access and, ultimately, universal service," Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard said here Monday evening. Kennard, making his first overseas statement since being appointed to head the FCC, did not specifically refer to a potential row between the United States and developing countries over connection charges for international calls. But he insisted that "traditional sources of revenue, such as settlement revenue, are no longer sustainable." The FCC says the United States currently loses some US$6 billion a year from what it calls unfair charges levied by poor countries for connecting international phone calls. Developing countries say they need the higher fees to fund development of their own infrastructure and cover higher costs. "Although the trends toward lower-cost services are irreversible, we should bear in mind that reductions in calling rates do not necessarily mean reductions in revenue," Kennard told delegates from 188 countries. "The increase in demand stimulated by lower prices can more than compensate for reduced per-call revenue." Last year, the FCC set its own ceilings on what it would allow US operators to pay in connection fees, but implementation of the decision has been suspended. Kennard said he regretted that many developing countries were not participating in the World Trade Organization agreement which telecommunications industry to competition.