To the Editor:
Is it just my imagination or did something ominous and unspeakable happen when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the Federal Communications Commission’s cancellation of the C- and F-block licenses of NextWave Personal Communications Inc.? In the time that has passed since the decision, there has been a literal avalanche of vicious and unmerciful negative press and anti-NextWave sentiments emanating primarily from incumbent wireless carriers. These desperate and unsubstantiated attacks on NextWave and its chairman, Allen Salmasi, extend beyond mere business sensibilities and seem very personal. It has to make one wonder what the heck is going on in our country. Isn’t this the land of equal opportunity and where dreams can come true? Why isn’t Allen Salmasi allowed to dream his dream and have his opportunity to build a better “mousetrap” or in this case a better fully digital, 3G-compliant wireless national network?
For all the naysayers and believers of the misinformation, NextWave qualified as a small business entrepreneur under the original rules of the C-block auction. Yes, many, including the U.S. government, questioned NextWave’s ability to raise $600 million in capital from the onset of its business and the fact that many of its investors were foreigners.
However, the government’s fears about the violation of the foreign-ownership rules were allayed many years ago. (I guess until one new FCC commissioner found an old, “unwithdrawn” petition in the file!) As for the ability to raise capital, anyone who has had the good fortune to speak on one of the NextWave test networks would know that Mr. Salmasi and NextWave have truly built a better mousetrap!
I feel that it is necessary for me to once again speak out for NextWave and all small business entrepreneurs involved in telecommunications because the “big boys” want to extinguish the last flicker of hope that anyone other than incumbents can play on their field. As the chief executive officer of United Calling Network Inc., I have from the beginning of the C-block auctions been a vocal and long-time supporter of NextWave Telecom Inc. and all small business related to the C- and F-block licensees.
UCNI recognized five years ago that NextWave’s carrier-to-carrier strategy would be the perfect opportunity for small telecommunications businesses to get into the wireless PCS arena without having to spend billions of dollars on spectrum purchases.
This notion was proven true when the major incumbent telephone companies developed their own PCS entities and their own in-house marketing/sales divisions. All of the opportunities for small business (which were justifications for the auctions) that were to be born of the PCS auctions and touted by the FCC never came to fruition. The existing network of cellular and paging agents and dealers was completely ignored by the incumbent PCS companies. NextWave’s strategy gave hope to all those small companies that did not have the capital or means to venture into PCS.
The court of appeals stated unequivocally that the FCC violated long-standing bankruptcy laws by canceling the C- and F-block licenses. Which means to me, in plain English, that the FCC was wrong and should not have re-auctioned NextWave’s license. NextWave did nothing wrong, except, in the eyes of its detractors, file for Chapter 11 protection. In my understanding of the law, any company big or small has the right to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. So what did NextWave do to have its licenses revoked? The only crime that NextWave was guilty of was that of having the foresight to obtain the spectrum that has now become so valuable.
I have news for the stubborn or uninformed, NextWave will build out its fully digital, national, wireless, 3G-compliant network and the network will compete with all of the incumbents.
More inquiries, investigation, litigation and intrigue will doing nothing but prolong the inevitable and deny the American public a much-needed 3G wireless alternative. The FCC and the incumbents have given it their collective “best shot” and NextWave has come out on top. It is time to leave all the fighting behind and get behind a new and superior technology and service.
Phillip V. Miller
Chief Executive Officer
United Calling Network Inc.
