WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it had received 49 applications to participate in the Jan. 26 auction of licenses returned by bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc. and other PCS licenses.
More than half-27-of the applications were deemed incomplete. These applicants have until Dec. 29 to make their upfront payments and resubmit their applications. Some of the applicants that had their forms returned included Verizon Wireless, Cook Inlet/VS GSM VII PCS L.L.C. and Cricket Licensee Re-auction Inc. Cook Inlet was a designated-entity bidder in the re-auction of the NextWave licenses when the FCC sold them in 2001, an action later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
It is not unusual for the FCC to return applications as incomplete. Applications can be returned for lots of reasons, some major, but mostly because minor corrections need to be made for the application to be valid.
The 22 applicants, including AirGate PCS Inc., that qualified to bid in the re-auction must make their upfront payments by Dec. 29.
The FCC reminded all potential bidders of the anti-collusion rule. “The prohibition applies to all applicants regardless of whether such applicants become qualified bidders or actually bid,” said the commission.
The FCC originally scheduled the NextWave re-auction for Jan. 12-five years to the day that the FCC cancelled the licenses, an action that set it on a collision course with the Supreme Court. Ultimately, the court ruled in NextWave’s favor. NextWave returned the licenses as part of a settlement negotiated earlier this year.
The FCC earlier this year delayed the auction until Jan. 26.
Much to the displeasure of larger carriers, the FCC is setting aside some of the licenses for small businesses. To be eligible to bid for the closed licenses, an entity and its affiliates must have combined total assets of less than $500 million and must have had combined gross revenues of less than $125 million in each of the last two years.
