BEDMINSTER, New Jersey, United States—Verizon Wireless filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking the court to direct the FCC to return more than US$1.7 billion of the carrier’s funds, which had been a deposit toward the full payment of spectrum licenses bid on during the FCC’s Auction 35 last year.
Verizon argued that the court’s ruling last June forcing the FCC to return the spectrum licenses to NextWave Telecom voided the results from the re-auction of those licenses.
Verizon Wireless said in the filing it is losing more than US$250,000 per day in lost interest on the deposit, with more than US$80 million lost in total since the court ordered the FCC to return spectrum licenses to NextWave.
Verizon Wireless also has petitioned the FCC to return its deposit and has said it would not participate in any settlement decision between the government agency and NextWave until the deposit is returned. The FCC said last week it will hold on to the US$3.2 billion in deposits 13 carriers filed with the commission to participate in the re-auction until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear its appeal about ownership of the licenses.
Verizon last week withdrew its Supreme Court appeal of an appeals court decision that gave personal communications services (PCS) licenses back to bankrupt NextWave Telecom.
“Although petitioner maintains its view that the court of appeals’ judgement is erroneous, petitioner nonetheless moves to dismiss its petition for a writ of certiorari because, at this point, the public interest in putting the spectrum to use, rather than letting it lie fallow, is better served by quickly obtaining certainty in ownership of the NextWave licenses than by this court’s making the correct decision on the legal question presented,” said Verizon Wireless in a motion.
NextWave filed its response to Verizon Wireless’ original petition, along with others from other carriers and the federal government last Friday.
Because the government filed the main appeal, NextWave focused on the government’s appeal. The bankrupt entity urged the Supreme Court to reject the government’s appeal, noting the circumstances surrounding its bankruptcy have changed. NextWave’s bankruptcy and the ensuing controversy over its licenses is the result of an installment payment scheme, long-since rejected by the FCC, said NextWave in its filing.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to take the case sometime during the second quarter.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on 22 June said the FCC erred when it canceled, re-allocated and re-auctioned NextWave’s 95 C- and F-block PCS licenses.
Verizon Wireless had been the top bidder in the FCC’s re-auction of NextWave’s licenses.
