NextWave to Outline Post-Bankruptcy Plan

NextWave Telecom Inc., fresh with new life after a court awarded wireless licenses to the bankrupt company, will outline today billions of dollars in new financing as part of its plan to emerge from bankruptcy, according to a person familiar with the plan.

The company’s plan will include payment for all valid claims, including money owed to the U.S. government for coveted wireless licenses, the person said. The licenses that cover major metropolitan markets are in hot demand by rivals, which want the airwaves to expand and improve mobile telephone service.

“The plan will provide for payment of all valid claims against the company, including the government’s claim, plus applicable interest,” the person said. “The new equity is expected to be supplied in principal part by NextWave’s original group of equity investors.”

NextWave’s previous equity investors included Global Crossing Ltd., Liberty Media Group and Texas Pacific Group.

The source declined to say how much money and who would be involved. The plan will be filed in Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. today.

The filing comes as rival wireless companies are pressuring the government to work out a settlement for the licenses that NextWave won back when an appeals court ruled the Federal Communications Commission violated bankruptcy laws when it took the licenses after NextWave failed to pay on time.