The FCC’s International and Wireless bureaus concluded NextWave h...
The FCC’s International and Wireless bureaus concluded NextWave had met regulatory conditions on its C-block licenses on foreign ownership requirements. The conditions required NextWave to either restructure and bring its indirect foreign ownership in line with the 25% benchmark…
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of the Communications Act or demonstrate that it would be in the public interest to exceed that mark. The bureaus’ clearance on the foreign ownership question appeared to be the last regulatory hurdle that NextWave had faced at the FCC on its licenses. Sec. 310(b) of the Act set a 25% benchmark for indirect investment by a foreign entity in a common carrier radio license, but gave the FCC discretion to allow higher ownership stakes if they were deemed in line with the public interest. Based on NextWave’s original 1997 petition for a temporary waiver of its restructuring options under the foreign ownership limits, the FCC held that NextWave’s indirect foreign ownership complied with the Commission’s foreign participation order. At that time, it said NextWave’s level of foreign equity share ownership was less than 27%, and more than 95% of its total equity ownership could be traced to U.S. citizens and citizens of other World Trade Organization countries. “We find no basis to attribute to NTI [NextWave] a level of foreign voting interests that is higher than the level of attributable foreign equity,” the Commission said. In a letter to the FCC in May 2003, NextWave said its Series A stock, which represents legal and actual control of the carrier, was held by U.S. citizens or companies, with a “de minimis” share owned by foreigners. The FCC also concluded that NextWave’s current level of indirect foreign equity and voting interests fell below the 25% benchmark for foreign ownership. It said NextWave’s ownership was divided, with 80.9% of issued and outstanding shares held by domestic interests, 14.5% by foreign individuals or companies and 4.6% by U.S. brokerage houses on behalf of individuals or firms whose citizenship wasn’t known to NextWave. “NextWave appreciates the attention the Commission and its staff have given to this matter in recent months, and we're glad that it’s now put to rest,” a company spokesman said. Petitions previously filed by AT&T Wireless, Verizon and VoiceStream questioned NextWave’s foreign ownership status, but the carriers later rescinded those filings. Questions also were raised in 1997 when 2 failed C- block bidders, Antigone Communications and PCS Devco, asked the FCC to dismiss NextWave’s conditional license approval based on alleged violations of foreign ownership limits. Before the FCC had taken final action on that petition, the agency cancelled NextWave’s licenses for nonpayment. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year upheld a U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., ruling that had held that the FCC had erred in cancelling the licenses.