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Urban Communicators Rides NextWave Legal Legacy

Communications Today, Sept 26, 2003

The Federal Communications Commission waited as long as it could before acknowledging it in an order released this week, but it was clear months ago that Urban Communicators PCS would regain its spectrum licenses because NextWave Telecom had prevailed in its legal dispute with the commission. In its order, the FCC waited until the next to last paragraph of the document to acknowledge that the NextWave case trumped its resistance to allowing Washington, D.C.-based Urban Communicators to regain the 10 licenses around North Carolina that it bid $75 million for in 1996. This delaying tactic wasn't lost on Urban Communicators' general counsel and stakeholder, Washington attorney James Winston, "They said it in the most convoluted way they could possibly come out with," Winston told PBI Media's Wireless Data News newsletter.

Like NextWave, Urban Com filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy after acquiring 1900 MHz spectrum licenses in a 1996 auction limited to small and minority-owned companies. However, the FCC canceled licenses won by NextWave (which bid nearly $5 billion for licenses covering 96 of the largest markets across the country), Urban Communicators and numerous other companies after they failed to make required payments on their bids. While NextWave's dispute with the FCC pushed through the legal process to the Supreme Court, a federal appeals court held Urban Communicators' appeal of the FCC's action until the NextWave dispute was settled. That happened in January when the High Court sided with NextWave. Also like NextWave, Urban Communicators now has the option of selling its licenses or proceeding with its original plan to build and operate a network.

"We've been put in a position where we can start working on a plan of reorganization," Winston said. "We had to have our licenses reinstated just to talk seriously about what comes next." PBI Media newsletter Wireless Data News has tracked the FCC's disputes with spectrum licenses holders as well as other legal issues affecting the delivery of wireless data services. For subscription information, visit the "newsstand" at http://www.TelecomWeb.com. To get more indepth news on hot issues in the wireless industry, visit the Wireless Data Channel of Telecom Web at http://www.telecomweb.com/wirelessdata/feature.htm.> [Copyright 2003 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.]