OAKLAND, Calif.—Clearwire Corp. filed a lawsuit against a community college district that wants to get out of a deal allowing Clearwire to use its excess spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band.
According to court filings by Clearwire, the company signed an agreement in December 2005 with Peralta Community College District to lease Peralta’s excess spectrum. Peralta has since sent Clearwire a notice attempting to terminate the lease, and Clearwire wants the court to block that action.
In its filings, Clearwire notes that 2.5 GHz spectrum is particularly scarce in the San Francisco Bay area and claims that the rest of the 2.5 GHz spectrum in the market “currently is subject to long term leases, which also contain first rights of refusal, if the lessor ever decides to sell, granted to other entities.” The company goes on to say that the spectrum it leased from Peralta is “the only capacity currently available to further its business goal of rolling out its advanced wireless services product in Oakland and the surrounding area.”
Clearwire also said that Peralta had failed to help it apply to the Federal Communications Commission for one of those long-term leases, as the two companies had agreed when they signed their agreement.
According to an April 2006 letter to Clearwire from Peralta included in the filings, Peralta said that it was justified in terminating the lease because Clearwire hadn’t lived up to its end of the bargain to confirm in writing an agreement that Clearwire would “provide key equipment or a major cash contribution … to further [Peralta’s] educational mission.” Peralta had requested $250,000 and said that the promise of the contribution was a “major and material inducement” for the district to agree to the lease.
