Verizon Wants Full Refund As FCC
Returns $2.8 Billion
Copyright 2002
Bulletin Broadfaxing Network, Inc.
The White House Bulletin...03/28/2002
From LexisNexis
from BroadbandWeek Direct - March 28, 2002
Late yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission
announced it is refunding 85 percent of the down payments paid
by wireless operators in January of 2001 for additional spectrum
originally issued to NextWave Telecom. An FCC spokesperson told
the Bulletin that the refunds would be issued in "the next
few weeks." The refund, primarily to Verizon Wireless, Alaska
Native Wireless, and Salmon PCS, will total $ 2.8 billion, which
is just 17 percent of the $ 16.3 billion the companies bid. However,
the companies had only turned $ 3.3 billion over to the FCC at
the auction as down payments and in January asked the FCC to return
the money while the Supreme Court was deciding the case.
The Commission said it would consider the auction status as "pending"
while the case is considered in front of the Supreme Court and
that winning bidders are still "bound by their bid obligations."
Verizon and others had claimed they were losing millions of dollars
in interest while their down payments were sitting idly in the
FCC's coffers. Verizon, for its part, wants to abandon the auction
altogether and receive a full refund on its payments. A spokesperson
for the company told the Bulletin that while "a return of
85% of our deposit is a step in the right direction. We have made
no secret of our position that Auction 35 is void. Now that the
Commission has announced its opinion about our position, we will
look at options to resolve this difference of opinion."
When asked about pursing legal avenues to reclaim the balance,
Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said, "We will keep all
of our options open. . Even after the refund, the Commission will
hold $ 260 million of our deposit money, and we've lost at least
another $ 115 million in unpaid interest on our deposit. In addition,
the FCC says we remain on the hook for $ 8.7 billion for licenses
they haven't delivered and can't deliver. We need the slate wiped
clean and get on with competing in our business."
|
