Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Conspiracy Theory- AnOldie But A Goodie

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 02:04:58 -0400

Conspiracy Theory- An Oldie But A Goodie

July 23, 2001
Conspiracy Theory
By Nancy Gohring

So much for the American dream. Individuals who
won licenses in the wireless auction ending in
January are disgusted with the government. They
think the auction process has been so crooked that
it's fodder for a Hollywood movie.

Vince McBride and Scott Reiter, each with dreams
of opening their own small wireless businesses,
won licenses. But they've seen nothing in return for
the $306,000 and $200,000 they handed over to the
Federal Communications Commission
respectively and are so enraged that they're seeing
conspiracy everywhere. McBride and Reiter won
licenses originally won by NextWave Telecom in
1996. But a court recently ruled that NextWave still
has rights to those licenses, even though the FCC
reauctioned them. It's not clear yet who will end up
with the spectrum.

Some of the connections that McBride and Reiter
make are mighty suspicious. Take NextWave's
former lawyer, Ted Olson, for example. He was
named U.S. solicitor general after representing
Gov. George W. Bush in the Supreme Court case
resulting in Bush being declared the winner of the
presidential election.

McBride and Reiter fear that it's unlikely the FCC
will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court
because the determination to make such an
appeal would be made by Solicitor General Olson.
Even if Olson were asked to allow someone else to
handle the case, McBride suspects it would be
someone influenced by Olson.

They also think that former FCC Chairman Bill
Kennard's connection to Nextel Communications is
fishy. The FCC tried to make a backroom deal that
would allow Nextel to buy NextWave's licenses,
without offering other companies the same chance
to buy them. That deal would have involved the FCC
granting waivers excusing Nextel from
small-business regulations attached to the
licenses. When Congress found out, it put a stop to
it. Now Kennard sits on Nextel's board.

They also wonder about what exactly happened
with Allegheny Communications. The company
filed a lawsuit prior to the auction against Alaska
Native Wireless, which is backed by AT&T Wireless
and Salmon PCS, which is 85 percent owned by
Cingular Wireless. Allegheny claimed those
companies broke the rules that qualified them as
small bidders because they had backing by such
heavy hitters. But Allegheny settled with the
companies and didn't end up winning any licenses.

Every auction has its conspiracy theories. In the
original 1996 auction, George Schmitt, then head of
Omnipoint Communications, once shared a rumor
that Michele Farquhar, then head of the FCC's
wireless bureau, was told by Vice President Al Gore
to ignore foreign ownership limits on companies
that were being invested in by the same Koreans
financing his campaign.

Ironically, reports have surfaced that the FCC may
revisit allegations that NextWave violated foreign
ownership rules in 1996, a case that was settled
between bickering companies, but never endorsed
by the FCC.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,117385,00.asp