Along with FCC filing late Fri. (CD Oct 22 p1), Verizon Wireless,...

to cancel NextWave licenses for missed payment, throwing into disarray $16 billion results of Jan. re-auction of C-block licenses, including 90 PCS licenses owned by NextWave. Commission had asked high court to review that decision, citing tension between agency’s obligations under Communications Act and Sec. 525 of Bankruptcy Code, which bars govt. units from revoking licenses of bankrupt entities solely because they haven’t paid dischargeable debt. As Commission did in its petition for certiorari, Verizon Wireless said case involved $11 billion -- differential between $4.7 billion that NextWave bid for licenses in 1997 and $15.8 billion in bids for those licenses in Jan. re- auction. “More broadly, however, the decision below warrants review because it upsets the longstanding congressional commitment of plenary public interest authority over spectrum allocation to the Commission (as well as any comparable state and local authority) to pursue nonmoney collecting ends,” Verizon Wireless said. It said D.C. Circuit ruling was contrary to conclusions in case by 2nd U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y. “This court should grant certiorari to restore the proper relation between the Bankruptcy Code and independent regulatory regimes like the spectrum-allocation provisions of the Communications Act.” Verizon argued that D.C. Circuit ruling compelled FCC to “leave licenses in the hands of a firm that has proved itself not to be the best user of the public spectrum for public interest reasons.” In addressing extent to which FCC had abandoned installment payment plans for auction winners, carrier said that payment mechanism had been authorized by Congress: “The D.C. Circuit has not deprived the Commission of the practical ability to re-adopt installment payment programs, despite their express contemplation by Congress.” Decision also limits ability of FCC to exercise authority to implement auction policies, it said. Separate writ of certiorari has been filed by designated entities Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Council Tree Communications, along with VoiceStream Wireless. Like Verizon Wireless, those companies had been intervenors in D.C. Circuit proceedings, so they had standing to ask Supreme Court for review. They wrote: “Under the D.C. Circuit’s decision, a single entity has been permitted to frustrate a regulatory policy and prevent the efficient use of spectrum licenses worth more than $15 billion.” They contended there was conflict between Circuit Courts on interpretation and application of Bankruptcy Code in cases where govt. agency had taken steps against debtor “based on otherwise valid regulatory policies.” Separately, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin, White Plains, N.Y., granted continuance of NextWave hearing that had been set for Mon. until Nov. 2. NextWave told that court Mon. that continuance was needed because of continuing settlement negotiations involving PCS licenses.