Twelve of the 84 companies that won C-block licenses for personal communications services are still waiting to receive their license in hand.
The Federal Communications Commission has issued 10-year licenses to 78 companies for 30 megahertz of spectrum at 1.9 GHz.
The conditional licenses were granted to the survivors of the C-block auction on Sept. 17. The companies then were required to put down 5 percent of the cost of the license within five business days.
Two companies were unable to make the payment and six companies were late on the bill.
Those companies unable to pay included Carolina PCS I L.P. and Mountain Solutions Ltd. Companies that were late included MFRI Inc., Longstreet Communication International Inc., R.F.W. Inc., Roberts-Roberts & Associates L.L.C., Southern Communications Systems Inc. and Wireless Telecommunications Co.
All eight companies have waivers pending with the FCC. Reply comments on the matter were due Friday.
Those companies that successfully acquired their licenses last month will make their first interest payment to the FCC this December, depending on arrangements.
Five licenses winners weren’t included in the Sept. 17 issue of licenses because their licenses are contested: Pocket Communications Inc., NextWave Personal Communications Inc., PCS 2000 Inc., GWI PCS Inc. and Meretel Communications L.P. Meretel was approved for four licenses and only one is contested.
While they await a resolution, no interest payments are required.
CH PCS Inc. won licenses in both the original C-block auction and the re-auction of defaulted properties.
Then CH PCS was unable to make the payments for the re-auctioned property it won, the FCC reported. So all of the C-block licenses won by CH PCS now are being held, the FCC said.
How they pay
The FCC has given C-block players a 10-year license. The companies had to pay 5 percent of the total license amount due a week after the auction ended May 6. Another 5 percent had to be paid five working days after the license was issued Sept. 17. The upfront payment made before the auction began was applied to the 10 percent, the FCC said.
When granted the license, companies sign an installment payment plan at 7 percent interest. An amortization schedule comes with the note. They pay quarterly interest payments for six years. They pay interest and principal in years seven through 10.
The FCC auction division said three- to six-month grace periods on interest payments are available any time during the license period.
