WASHINGTON-The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau on Oct. 27 approved the transfer of several personal communications services and local multipoint distribution service licenses to TeleCorp Wireless Inc.
The bulk of the licenses are being transferred as part of TeleCorp’s merger with Tritel Inc.
“The [Federal Communications Commission] approval is the final major checkpoint required to complete our merger with Tritel,” said Gerald T. Vento, chairman and chief executive officer of TeleCorp PCS Inc. “This approval also covers our acquisition of strategic PCS licenses in Wisconsin and Iowa. … With the necessary approvals behind us, we are pushing aggressively to complete the formal administrative process and close this transaction very shortly. With our service area solidified, we are now well on our way toward realizing the economies and advantages this new footprint affords us.”
The FCC does not approve mergers but rather approves the telecommunications license transfers considered necessary for any merger to close.
The transfer is being conditioned on the divestiture by TeleCorp of licenses for Bowling Green-Glasgow, Ky., and Daviess County, Ky. Without the divestitures, TeleCorp would exceed the spectrum cap, which limits the amount of spectrum a company can own in a geographic area to 45 megahertz in urban areas and 55 megahertz in rural areas.
The wireless bureau denied various petitions, including one from Nextel Communications Inc. that said transfer should be denied because TeleCorp does not qualify as a small business known as a designated entity-a necessity because the PCS licenses are restricted to DEs.
TeleCorp said the merger with Tritel and the acquisition of other licenses were necessary to compete with other emerging nationwide players such as Cingular Wireless Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS. TeleCorp is an affiliate of AT&T Wireless Services Inc.
