Subject: [NEXTEL-1] CTIA cites NextWave private auction as 800 MHz argument

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 14:41:17 -0400

CTIA cites NextWave private auction as 800 MHz argument
By Heather Forsgren Weaver
June 25 12:29:00, 2004

WASHINGTON—The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association
Wednesday said that awarding Nextel Communications Inc. spectrum in the
1.9 GHz band as replacement spectrum to solve the 800 MHz public-safety
interference problem would be detrimental to taxpayers as evidenced by
bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc. setting a reserve price for its July 8
private auction.

“The NextWave auction reserve prices demonstrate that the remaining 1.9
GHz spectrum is in high demand and is expected to raise substantial
funds through the auction process. It is ironic that NextWave is going
to hold an auction to yield the highest value for 1.9 GHz spectrum,
while at the same time the FCC is considering giving away the spectrum
to one company and prohibiting anyone else from seeking it. It further
shows that Nextel’s $3.3 billion valuation for 10 megahertz at 1.9 GHz
is substantially undervalued and unjustifiable—which in turn underscores
the legal vulnerability of the Nextel proposal,” said Diane Cornell,
CTIA vice president of regulatory policy. “These funds are better spent
on public-safety needs rather than being handed over to one company
through grant of spectrum at 1.9 GHz.”

Nextel said the important issue is solving the public-safety
interference problem. “The proceeding we are in is seeking to solve a
problem to public safety. Life and property are in danger due to
interference from wireless commercial service. At the end of the day,
Nextel is putting significant value on the table and needs to be made
whole, and it needs to be a fair exchange. Nextel is putting more than
$5 billion toward this effort, and (its opponents) continue to offer
nothing for public safety,” said Leigh Horner, Nextel director of policy
communications.

NextWave plans to hold a private auction July 8 as part of its plan of
reorganization. It has set a reserve price—the lowest price a license
can be purchased for—at 50 percent of the value of the license when the
Federal Communications Commission re-auctioned them in 2001. The FCC’s
re-auction was invalidated by a 2003 Supreme Court decision that said
the FCC could not cancel licenses for non-payment if the licensee was in
bankruptcy.

The FCC will begin auctioning the licenses NextWave returned as part of
a settlement negotiated earlier this year Jan. 12, 2005—five years to
the day that the FCC said the licenses were cancelled, an action that
set it on a collision course with the Supreme Court.

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=626

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