Wireless Firms Freed From License Bids

Freeing several of the nation’s biggest mobile phone companies to pursue other means of securing airwaves for their growing masses of subscribers, federal regulators Thursday agreed to let carriers opt out of their obligation to pay $16 billion for wireless licenses now owned by NextWave Telecom Inc.

The decision by the Federal Communications Commission was a victory for Verizon Wireless Inc., VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and more than a dozen other carriers that had sought to wash their hands of a 6-year-old airwave dispute that left the ownership of 197 government-issued wireless phone licenses up in the air.

“As the months have passed and the economic difficulties worsened, it has become increasingly clear that allowing the winners to exit the auction is the right course,” FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell said Thursday. “Although the commission cannot cure the capital crunch, it can remove the cloud of uncertainty.”

The FCC said the mobile carriers could apply in the next 45 days to be relieved of their financial obligations and reclaim millions of dollars held by the federal Treasury as deposits. Companies that elect to rescind their bids would not be barred from a future sale of the licenses should they become available again.

Wireless carriers have been counting on amassing more wireless spectrum to deliver advanced services such as high-speed Internet access.

But their quest has been thwarted by Hawthorne, N.Y.-based NextWave. The company bid $4.7 billion for its wireless phone licenses at a 1996 FCC auction. But the company failed to pay for them and entered bankruptcy proceedings.

The FCC subsequently took back NextWave’s licenses and re-auctioned them. But NextWave successfully challenged the FCC’s action and the dispute now is pending before the Supreme Court.