Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2001
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
CIV (202) 514-2007
FCC (202) 418-0513
TDD (202) 514-1888

SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN NEXTWAVE CASE
SIGNED BY GOVERNMENT


WASHINGTON – The Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission has signed a settlement agreement in the "NextWave" case. The settlement agreement cannot be implemented before Congress passes particular legislation, and implementation also requires approval by the court that oversees NextWave's bankruptcy petition. In the meantime, the government's petition for a writ of certiorari is pending before the Supreme Court.

According to the settlement agreement, NextWave will surrender all the C and F block licenses for wireless telecommunications spectrum it previously won. The FCC will then issue new licenses for that spectrum to qualified wireless carriers that offered the winning bids in Auction 35. The settlement agreement was reached after complicated and protracted negotiations with numerous parties.

The terms of the settlement are favorable to the American public – – which will reap benefits in the form of enhanced telecommunications coverage, improved service quality, and greater telecommunications reliability. In addition, as a consequence of the settlement the United States Treasury will receive $10 billion – – yet another benefit to the American taxpayer.

The settlement agreement ends years of litigation concerning the right to use wireless spectrum covered by the licenses previously issued to NextWave, and it also avoids the prospect of years of additional litigation during which the wireless spectrum covered by the licenses could not be put to public use.

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