Despite overhang of litigation, NextWave outlined plans for netwo...

all-cash contract with Lucent will allow network buildout up until point of carrier having licenses back in hand. FCC said earlier this week that it planned to ask U.S. Supreme Court to review U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., ruling that returned licenses to bankrupt carrier (CD Aug 7 p1). Commission also asked D.C. Circuit to stay results of its June remand that otherwise would take effect Aug. 13 by returning to NextWave C-block licenses that FCC had cancelled for nonpayment. (Decision on stay by D.C. Circuit is expected as early as next week.) Assuming that Supreme Court doesn’t grant certiorari, threat of litigation is expected to be out of way by mid-Nov., which is about when court would be likely to rule on certiorari request, NextWave Deputy Gen. Counsel Michael Wack said. That would clear way for confirmation of company’s plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, White Plains, N.Y., later this year, officials said. Even if Supreme Court agrees to take case, Salmasi said company still could move ahead with plans to start voice and data services in Detroit and Madison, Wis., where NextWave owns F-block licenses that aren’t tied up in litigation. “With regard to the other markets, if cert is granted, that would put everything on hold until ultimately the Supreme Court decides,” Salmasi said, adding that he hoped Commission ultimately would decide not to seek certiorari. As for network buildout, Salmasi and other executives said NextWave’s plans to begin service had been accelerated by extent to which vendors could handle so many technical aspects of operations on turnkey basis. David Needham, senior vp-operations, cited tower siting as example, with NextWave having reached agreements with virtual all tower operators to colocate equipment. As long as licenses are in hand, scenario that officials seemed to be bullish about, NextWave plans to have C-block markets on air in Dec. NextWave said it was positioning itself to be ready for rollout, with 228 base stations shipped and waiting in warehouse. Initial system for 68 C-, D- and E-block markets is expected to be completed in Dec., with initial system for 27 other F-block markets set for completion in April 2002. While first network rollout will be high-speed data only, Detroit and Madison markets will be both data and voice. Salmasi said those cities were are expected to be complete in April, “if not earlier.”