Mobile marauder

FCC Chairman Michael Powell was too kind in the statement he issued yesterday about the alleged resolution of the NextWave spectrum debacle. "This landmark agreement takes valuable spectrum resources out of the courts and will put it in the hands of consumers who can finally use it," Powell's statement read.

I might have put it more like this: "We're relieved to at least partially curtail this longtime pirating of the wireless industry's airwaves. Our only regret is that we weren't able to put an end to this issue without settling with--and further lining the pockets of--a spectrum speculator motivated only by greed, and that so many legitimate wireless businesses had to suffer for close to a decade while this was being resolved."

Since 1995, NextWave has done nothing to contribute to competition in the wireless sector. The entitity's only contribution to the overall economy is keeping high-priced lawyers and lobbyists on both sides busy. While myriad wireless service providers have invested in their networks, introducing new technologies and pursuing legitimate avenues of spectrum acquisition, NextWave did nothing but hold valuable spectrum hostage and make repeated hollow promises about wholesale strategies that it more than likely never intended to pursue. (In July 2001, for example, Allen Salmasi, the company's original chairman, issued a statement saying that NextWave was "fine-tuning our network design and switch engineering, completing microwave clearance and finalizing tower site selection and development." What's the status of those projects these days, NextWave?)

Clearly, as this so-called final resolution with the FCC indicates, NextWave's intention for years has been to make as much money as possible without adding any competition, consumer option or innovation to the wireless sector. It succeeded: Reports indicate that this agreement with the FCC will be worth billions to NextWave. And it doesn't end here--it's seemingly never over with NextWave. Per the terms of the agreement, the entity still holds licenses for some of the country's most lucrative markets, including Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.--licenses valued at a total of $7.2 billion in a later nullified auction of this spectrum. And yet again, NextWave is keeping its options wide open, publicly pondering a wholesale strategy while it presumably shops its remaining spectrum around to the highest bidder.

Thankfully, the wireless industry has survived--even prospered--despite this ongoing pillaging. My hope is that, as Powell's statement said, "We can finally end the litigation and begin the innovation."

E-mail me at jmeyers@primediabusiness.com