Court backs NextWave over FCC
Jan 30, 2003 12:00 PM
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that NextWave Telecom will keep
wireless licenses worth billions of dollars despite its failure to meet
payment obligations.
NextWave is free to develop wireless licenses or sell them to the
highest bidder.
The Federal Communications Commission seized the licenses from NextWave
and sold them for more than $16 billion in January 2001. When NextWave
won the licenses in 1996, it agreed to pay $4.7 billion. The company
was unable to pay the full amount and filed for bankruptcy in 1998. The
FCC then seized the licenses.
The company successfully sued in federal appeals court for return of
the licenses. The FCC then took the six-year-old dispute to the Supreme
Court. The court supported NextWave's case in an 8-1 vote.
The big wireless carriers say the value of the licenses has declined
since the 2001 auction in the wake of a U.S. economic downturn and
resulting collapse of the telecom industry.
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