In the eyes of some, the Federal Communications Commission's great experiment with personal communications services licensing has been a smashing success. Facilities-based competition is all around. Subscriber numbers and revenues are growing by leaps and bounds, with equipment and service prices falling just as...
A number of new licenses will be up for grabs early next year as the majority of C-block personal communications services licensees opted to return their licenses to the Federal Communications Commission.The FCC said 175 licenses will be returned in full. Another 130 portions...
WASHINGTON-Notwithstanding the Federal Communications Commission's consistent call for Congress to pass legislation to protect FCC licenses from being held up by auction bidders in bankruptcy proceedings, it became apparent last week that such legislation is not on a fast track on Capitol Hill.The issue...
The shakeout continues.NextWave Telecom Inc.-which had the potential to be the nation's largest PCS operator-followed two of its C-block counterparts last week and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.It seems these bidders believe they can get more relief from the judicial system than they...
BALTIMORE-After a 95-minute delay during which 15 attorneys negotiated the Pocket Communications Inc. bankruptcy case last Thursday at the courthouse cafeteria here, the bankruptcy judge said Pocket can participate in today's C-block elections but that its selection will be held in abeyance until at...
WASHINGTON-The federal government is expected Thursday to ask a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Baltimore to extend the so-called drop-dead date on the personal communications services licenses awarded to Pocket Communications Inc. in the C-block auction so the government can continue negotiating with the debtors-in-possession...
NEW YORK-Omnipoint Corp. is going shopping for wireless licenses to enhance its value to prospective strategic partners and fill in gaps in the GSM North America Alliance's national footprint. The personal communications services carrier specifically is interested in Pocket Communications Inc.'s Chicago and Dallas...
SBC Communications Inc.'s impending plans to add Ameritech to its growing stable of telecom acquisitions brings to the front burner the significance of the 45 megahertz cap on wireless spectrum.Say what you will about him, former FCC chairman Reed Hundt instituted the cap on...
WASHINGTON-With consolidation, affirmative action curbs and top-dollar licenses turning into barriers to entry, federal regulators are trying to create after-market opportunities for small businesses in a young but fast-maturing industry already dominated by a handful of wireless behemoths.But is the Federal Communications Commission fighting...
Here's something to ponder: Is the FBI to blame for the current CALEA fiasco, as the wireless industry has long claimed? Or does this rather serious controversy reflect the wireless industry's failure to negotiate a better deal when the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act...
WASHINGTON-A federal bankruptcy judge in Baltimore last week ordered the Federal Communications Commission to surrender to unsecured creditors of Pocket Communications Inc. information intentionally omitted from the company's reorganization plan provided last month by the FCC, Justice Department and several vendors.The Creditors Committee argued...
Personal communications services provider Omnipoint Corp. last week became one of the first C-block licensees to select options from the Federal Communications Commission's license rules.Omnipoint said it elected to return portions of its spectrum in a move it expects will reduce debt and accrued...
Unsecured creditors of Pocket Communications Inc. have subpoenaed the Federal Communications Commission for information omitted from the reorganization plan approved last month by several creditor-vendors, the FCC and the Justice Department.Unsecured creditors believe knowledge of private portions of the secured lenders term sheet is...
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard responded March 30 to a congressional letter questioning the commission on its recent C-block personal communications services financial-restructuring reconsideration order and on its pending deal with one bankrupt C-blocker's creditors.Reps. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.), Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and John...
WASHINGTON-Unless it receives as-yet-undefined "higher and better alternatives" from potential buyers who would like to purchase the Dallas and Chicago C-block licenses from bankrupt Pocket Communications Inc., a group of Pocket's creditors may end up with those properties, with Pocket's remaining 41 licenses returning...
WASHINGTON-Still not satisfied that the Federal Communications Commission went far enough to protect the viability of certain financially disabled C-block personal communications services licensees, three congressmen have asked FCC chairman Bill Kennard to respond by March 30 to two questions regarding last week's reconsideration...
WASHINGTON-Major lenders to C-block personal communications services licensee Pocket Communications Inc. have struck a tentative deal with the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department to buy the bankrupt company's Dallas and Chicago clusters. Pocket's remaining licenses would be returned to the FCC, and...
BALTIMORE-Pacific Eagle Investments Ltd., Masa Telecom Inc., Ericsson Inc. and Siemens Telecom Networks-collective creditors to bankrupt C-block personal communications services licensee Pocket Communications Inc.-have withdrawn a lawsuit filed in U.S. Bankruptcy court here Feb. 18 that was crafted to block any government efforts to...
WASHINGTON-Despite recent Federal Communications Commission allusions to a prompt public notice detailing changes to its C-block personal communications services financial restructuring order, such a notice probably will not be released for weeks-perhaps months-and the election date for any of its options won't be until...
BALTIMORE-A judge handling the Pocket Communications Inc. bankruptcy case ruled Feb. 11 that a $1-billion lawsuit against Pocket principles Dan and Janis Riker filed by National Telecom PCS Inc. can move forward, and that the Rikers cannot seek either protection or damages through the...
While the personal communications services industry is characterized as up and running, a host of PCS carriers have yet to launch service, raising questions about whether they will survive in the marketplace.Twenty-six out of RCR's 40 top PCS operators (ranked by pops) have yet...
To the Editor: Last week, in a letter to the editor, a former employee of Pocket Communications blamed me for Pocket's demise. Well, he's right!Pocket neither qualified nor deserved to be a C-block licensee. And if the FCC had done its job, there would have...
WASHINGTON-NextWave Telecom Inc. is poised to begin a technical trial in Las Vegas of what it describes as the first F-block personal communications services network built to date. The company also has built test networks in San Diego, San Antonio and Washington, D.C., but...
WASHINGTON-C-block personal communications service licensees will have an additional seven weeks to file with the Federal Communications Commission their choice-if any-of the four financial restructuring options offered by the commission last September.The Jan. 15 election date has been pushed back to Feb. 26, due...
