FCC asked to weigh NextWave licensee eligibility

The NextWave saga continues with the FCC now being asked to decide whether the company is eligible to hold its recently reacquired C and F Block licenses.

Verizon Wireless, VoiceStream Wireless, and AT&T Wireless-linked Alaska Native Wireless filed a petition with the FCC yesterday in hopes of getting back the spectrum the commission sold them and other carriers earlier this year, to the tune of $15.9 billion.

An appeals court ruled last month that the FCC violated bankruptcy laws when it tried to repossess the licenses from NextWave because it had failed to make timely payments.

An FCC spokeswoman said the commission had yet to review the petition and would not comment until doing so.

When NextWave entered into bankruptcy protection, its corporate structure, management team and investment interests changed, which has caused the wireless carriers to call NextWave’s eligibility into question.

“NextWave participated in the C and F Block auctions as a Designated Entity. Although the Commission originally found NextWave conditionally qualified to hold C and F Block licenses, subsequent developments at the company, when taken as a whole, belie NextWave’s claim to Designated Entity status both as of October 1998, when NextWave failed to make its installment payments, and today,” according to the filing.

NextWave believes “the filing is the latest attempt by Verizon, VoiceSteam, and AT&T to stop NextWave from building out its PCS network and delivering the next generation of wireless services to consumers,” said Michael Wack, NextWave's deputy general counsel. “Rather than accept the recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and abide by the rule of law, these carriers have now launched a blatant attempt to bottle up a new competitor in administrative proceedings.”

The company maintains that it is now, and always has been, fully qualified to be an FCC licensee, Wack added.