LightSquared urged the FCC to provide regulatory certainty...
LightSquared urged the FCC to provide regulatory certainty on the company’s licensed spectrum so assets are sold in its bankruptcy auction for their full and fair value. It would be “very unfortunate if the FCC made its decisions after the…
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bankruptcy sales process was over,” LightSquared said in an ex parte filing about a meeting last week with staff from acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn’s office (http://bit.ly/1a1ogFI). “Maintaining a perpetual state of uncertainty makes LightSquared a ’spectrum grab bag,'” it said. “No one will pay very much for the chance to come up empty.” LightSquared said in its bankruptcy restructuring plan that resolution of the FCC proceedings will maximize the value of its assets (CD Sept 4 p14). Action by the commission now would result in a significant amount of spectrum making its way to consumers “and finally resolve ... the remaining obstacles to the use of LightSquared’s spectrum,” it said. Dish Network is likely to acquire LightSquared spectrum, said New Street Research analysts. This could potentially double Dish’s spectrum capacity and generate $10 per share in incremental value for Dish shareholders, the analysts said in a research note (http://bit.ly/18vTZ4H). The FCC needs to establish parameters for the lower downlink channel to coexist with the current GPS allocation, they said. Because of the risk and uncertainty surrounding the path to value realization, “Dish would never pay anywhere near full value for the spectrum,” they said.