SENATE LANGUAGE COULD YANK C-BLOCK LICENSES

WASHINGTON-A Senate Appropriations subcommittee has included language in the Federal Communications Commission’s funding bill that would allow it to take back licenses tied up in bankruptcy, including licenses held by NextWave Telecom and General Wireless Inc.

Both NextWave and GWI have had the value of their C-block personal communications services licenses lowered by bankruptcy judges, who ruled the delay in awarding the licenses from May 1996, when the C-block auction ended, to February 1997, constituted a fraudulent conveyance. The FCC is appealing both actions.

Almost without notice, the language was slipped into a bill that increased the FCC’s budget. It was passed by voice vote on Wednesday.