Verizon Wireless, Salmon PCS, Alaska Native Wireless (ANW) and Vo...

re-auction winners relief on their bid obligations. Eldorado also has filed challenge at U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., arguing that bureau decision should be overturned because it conflicted with federal statutes, FCC regulation and Commission case precedent. Verizon, Salmon PCS, which has financial backing from Cingular, ANW, which has financing from AT&T Wireless, and T- Mobile unit VoiceStream PCS all participated in Jan. 2001 re- auction and availed themselves of FCC order allowing them to dismiss pending license applications. They charged that Eldorado’s challenge at FCC was “a transparent attempt to hold Auction No. 35 participants hostage while Eldorado pursues its grossly untimed request for additional relief” for participants in original C-block auctions. Eldorado competed with NextWave in original C-block auction, later filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and returning spectrum to govt. Carriers argued that Eldorado lacked standing and its application for review should be dismissed. DCC PCS filed similar objection last week (CD Jan 15 p3). Carriers said: “The application in effect seeks a stay of the orders by which the FCC granted the requested dismissals of Auction 35 applications and made related refunds without Eldorado even attempting to satisfy the heavy burden it must bear to warrant such extraordinary relief in the context of its own defaults” in original C-block auction. Eldorado isn’t injured by relief granted to re-auction winners, filing said. Instead, it was put at disadvantage by earlier FCC decisions granting relief to initial round of C-block winners when they ran into financial problems. “But those earlier decisions are well beyond review, and any challenges at this time would be grossly untimely,” filing said. “Eldorado cannot be allowed to use decisions unique to Auction 35 as a means to rejuvenate long-expired appeal time frames applicable to those prior auction actions.”