NextWave Telecom Inc. said it successfully made the $12.5 million second down payment on its new 10 megahertz licenses, and now the company wants a little respect for the network construction it has accomplished during the last year."We have made substantial progress in our...
WASHINGTON-Antigone Communications L.P. and PCS Devco Inc. charged the Federal Communications Commission with ignoring their petition to deny GWI PCS Inc.'s C-block licenses and with granting GWI's licenses in light of alleged collusion with Hyundai Electronics of America Inc."Petitioners were injured by the conduct...
DENVER-Wireless carriers in Denver now are required to take proactive steps with the community if they want their towers and antennas placed in certain areas of the city.The Denver City Council approved last week a new zoning ordinance that requires wireless operators to notify...
WASHINGTON-Noting the financial community has turned its back for the most part on entrepreneurs seeking funds to build their wireless networks, MCI Telecommunications Corp. has floated new license payment terms at the Federal Communications Commission in hopes the agency will restructure debt repayment.The proposal...
No shortage of wireless wonking this week.On Tuesday, Chairman John McCain's (R-Ariz.) Senate Commerce Committee will hear about antenna siting moratoria, RF and wireless taxation as local and state government officials square off with industry on federalism and preemption.Early read: It's a set up. Look...
WASHINGTON-Dan Phythyon, acting chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, does not want to characterize himself or his staff as "the James Brown of the commission." He modestly holds that his domain is "a hardworking bureau like other hardworking bureaus" contained within...
WASHINGTON-While no notice of proposed rulemaking is pending regarding the start and parameters for the next round of paging and narrowband personal communications services auctions, the wireless industry does need to gear up for the continued transition from free to paid licenses. Some changes...
WASHINGTON-NextWave Telecom Inc. and engineering provider LCC International Inc. have concluded negotiations revolving around the C-block winner's default of a March 31 payment for services. A $2 million wire transfer was made to LCC from NextWave on or about April 23.According to a written...
WASHINGTON-The Justice Department's Antitrust Division has begun at least two civil investigations into possible "bid rigging and market allocation" that allegedly occurred during the personal communications services auctions. One prong seeks information regarding possible collusion in the D-, E- and F-block auction and the...
NEW YORK-Wall Street, once ebullient about wireless stocks, is somewhat gloomy these days about the prospects for new personal communications services carriers to raise public equity.A convergence of global and local factors is at play in a situation that portends at least temporary troubles...
Oh, the C-block PCS auction is becoming one of life's little ironies.Consider this: Congress in 1993 demanded that spectrum be set aside for smaller companies that want to participate in the nation's wireless telecommunications business. The C-block auction is dubbed the "entrepreneurial" auction in anticipation...
WASHINGTON-In the final salvo of paperwork regarding NextWave Telecom Inc.'s opposition to its application for review, Antigone Communications L.P. and PCS Devco Inc. continue to maintain their push for, at best, a reversal of NextWave's personal communications services licenses and, at second best, an...
WASHINGTON-Citing "public interest," NextWave Personal Communications Inc. has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to not only "temporarily" waive its 25 percent foreign-ownership cap for 90 days following implementation of the World Trade Organization agreement that could go into effect Jan. 1, 1998, but to...
NEW YORK-MCI Communications Corp. and NextWave Telecom Inc. signed a master services agreement under which MCI will provide carrier services and back-office support to NextWave. MCI then will have access to NextWave's system to provide wireless local access.Part of the agreement calls for MCI...
Editor's Note: As C-block winner Pocket Communications Inc. goes through its bankruptcy restructuring, RCR takes an in-depth look at how Congress, the FCC and Wall Street are addressing PCS auction issues. Additional stories appear from page 9 through 15.WASHINGTON-The shakeout emerging in the personal communications...
WASHINGTON-In the early to mid-1980s, the rush was on at the Federal Communications Commission to get cellular licenses in major metropolitan and rural areas issued as quickly as possible to get the new service operating. Because of the time element involved in using comparative...
SANTA BARBARA, Calif.-NextWave Personal Communications Inc., a personal communications services licensee, expanded a contract with TynanGroup Inc. to include Manhattan, Bronx, Nassau and Suffolk counties of New York.TynanGroup is a real estate and wireless site development firm that provides site acquisition, site development, construction...
WASHINGTON-In its 1996 annual report released last week, MCI Communications Corp. waxed eloquent on its successes in the local exchange, the international market, its partnership with British Telecom plc and the continued growth of its core businesses. However, the second-largest U.S. long-distance carrier gave...
WASHINGTON-After being hit with loan-repayment defaults by the top two C-block personal communications services licensees March 31, LCC International Inc. has decided to "reserve with respect to 1996 earnings $30.1 million, pre-tax, against certain receivables from, investments in and costs associated with Pocket Communications...
Antenna placement at the new Denver International Airport is on hold until carriers can convince airport authorities that additional sites won't cause interference."We didn't spend $8 million building a radio system for this airport to have anyone come in and interfere with the operational...
WASHINGTON-Paperwork filed at the Federal Communications Commission April 1 by NextWave Telecom Inc. has the country's largest C-block personal communications services winner stating once again that the FCC is all wrong regarding its debt instruments and that even if NextWave hadn't participated in the...
WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) has drafted spectrum auction legislation designed to rein in what has become a high-stakes wireless licensing process driven increasingly by budget forces, possibly at the expense of competition.Pete Belvin, a Commerce Committee telecom counsel, told an industry...
WASHINGTON-Despite the optimism expressed fewer than two weeks ago by Daniel Riker, chairman and chief executive officer of Pocket Communications Inc., regarding the financial future of his C-block personal communications services company, things apparently were not as rosy Riker described them.Citing the preservation of...
NEW YORK-Start-up players in personal communications services are at an awkward and critical juncture where riding the accelerator is necessary to roll out service and riding the brake is required to get public financing."There is a divide right now that I'd characterize as huge,...
