WASHINGTON-Previous Federal Communications Commission auction winners and near winners plus a few new faces were accepted as qualified bidders for the July 3 auction of 18 C-block personal communications services licenses that were taken back from two winners that did not meet their financial obligations. Whether the auction actually begins on that date remains to be seen.
At press time, an emergency stay filed by National Telecom PCS Inc., original winner of the American Samoa license, still was being considered by the full commission. According to NatCom President Jack E. Robinson, “If they rule in favor of us, fine. If they rule against us, we have to decide quickly whether to petition the appeals court to stay the auction.”
Robert Kyle, director, chief executive officer and chairman of BDPCS Inc., the initial winner of the 17 other C-block licenses disallowed by the FCC, has not filed any emergency petitions at the commission since the agency denied BDPCS’s waiver and reconsideration requests. He told RCR he was not ready to comment on whether his group would concede defeat.
The following players filed and paid upfront fees to bid on all the licenses being re-auctioned: Alpine PCS Inc., Aer Force Communications II L.P., AirGate Wireless L.L.C., Americall International L.L.C., Cook Inlet Western Wireless PV/SS PCS L.P., DCR PCS Inc. (now Pocket Communications), Eldorado Communications L.L.C., Farajollah Besimanto, GWI PCS Inc., Jory Inc., MPR PCS Consortium, Mercury Mobility L.L.C., Miccom Associates Ltd., National Telecom Holdings Inc., New Wave L.L.C., NextWave Personal Communications Inc., PCS USA L.L.C., PCS Devco Inc., Parker Communications Services Inc., Roberts-Roberts Associates L.L.C., Radiofone Nationwide PCS L.L.C., Redwood Wireless Corp., Telewaves Corp. and Westel L.P.
In the running for specific licenses are CH PCS Inc. (Denver, Phoenix, Salem, Ore., Seattle and Tucson), KMTel L.L.C. (Bellingham, Longview and Bremerton, Wash., Ft. Collins, Colo., Santa Fe, N.M., and American Samoa) and Magnacom Wireless L.L.C. (Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M., Seattle, Bellingham, Longview, Olympia and Bremerton, Wash., Colorado Springs, Ft. Collins and Denver, Colo., Eugene, Portland and Salem, Ore., Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.).
Also pursuing individual licenses are Mountain Solutions L.L.C. (Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, N.M., Longview, Wash., and St. Cloud, Minn.), Mountain Solutions Ltd. Inc. (Bellingham, Bremerton and Olympia, Wash., and Colorado Springs and Ft. Collins, Colo.), Willcomm L.L.C. (Bellingham, Bremerton, Longview and Olympia, Wash., and Eugene and Salem, Ore.), Western Minnesota PCS L.P., (St. Cloud, Minn.) and Whidbey Telephone Co. (Bellingham and Bremerton, Wash.).
According to Taylor Simmons of Washington, D.C.-based Taylor Simmons Associates, new bidders on the scene probably won’t have much of a chance to win the larger markets, but they could have a chance at those with fewer than 200,000 pops. Simmons projects that NextWave will win Portland and Salem, Ore., Albuquerque, Minneapolis and Denver. Other C-block winner DCR is the probable victor in Phoenix and Tucson, he said.
“It will be DCR’s job to make sure that NextWave does not get licenses too cheaply,” Simmons said. “They could battle over Minneapolis, but DCR doesn’t need it for GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), and NextWave needs to fill a hole.”
St. Cloud probably will go to Western Minnesota, Simmons added, and Cook Inlet could win Seattle/Bremerton/Olympia. There may be a race between Americall and Cook Inlet for Bremerton, with Americall also having a shot at Longview.
Two bidding rounds are planned for opening day, and then the auction will shut down for the July 4-5 holiday. A schedule for the week beginning July 8 will not be posted until July 3.
