A bill to facilitate the ability of certain spectrum auction winners to pursue alternative measures required in the public interest to meet the needs of wireless telecommunications consumers.

Allows a winning bidder to which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has not granted an Auction 35 license (broadband personal communications service spectrum auction related to spectrum previously licensed to NextWave Personal Communications, Inc., Next Wave Power Partners, Inc., or Urban Comm North Carolina, Inc.) to irrevocably elect to relinquish any right, title, or interest in that license and associated application by formal written notice to the FCC. Allows such election only within the 30-day period after enactment of this Act. Frees any winning bidder making such election from all license and application obligations, including the obligation to pay the winning bid amount.

Requires the FCC: (1) within 37 days after receiving such an election, to return to such bidder any deposit or down-payment made; and (2) within five days after enactment of this Act, to issue a public notice specifying the form and process for the return of deposits and down-payments.

Makes inapplicable to this Act certain Federal paperwork reduction requirements.

Expresses the sense of Congress that no inference with respect to any issue of law or fact in Federal Communications Commission v. NextWAVE Personal Communications, Inc., et al. should be drawn from this Act.

[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2869 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2869

To facilitate the ability of certain spectrum auction winners to pursue 
alternative measures required in the public interest to meet the needs 
               of wireless telecommunications consumers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2002

  Mr. Kerry (for himself and Mr. Brownback) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To facilitate the ability of certain spectrum auction winners to pursue 
alternative measures required in the public interest to meet the needs 
               of wireless telecommunications consumers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. RETURN OF DOWNPAYMENTS.

    On or before the 15th day after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall return to the winning 
bidders of auction 35 the full amount of all deposits and downpayments 
made by such winning bidders for licenses that the Commission has not 
by that date delivered to such winning bidders.

SEC. 2. RELIEF FROM CONTINUING OBLIGATIONS.

    Each winning bidder of auction 35 that elects, by formal written 
notice to the Federal Communications Commission on or before the 15th 
day after the date of the enactment of this Act, to relinquish its 
rights under auction 35 to receive a license for which it was the 
winning bidder, and which the Commission has not delivered to such 
bidder by the date of such election, shall be free of all obligations 
such winning bidder would otherwise have with respect to such license, 
including the obligation to pay the full amount of its winning bid upon 
delivery of such license.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Auction 35.--The term ``auction 35'' means the C and F 
        block broadband personal communications service spectrum 
        auction of the Federal Communications Commission, which began 
        on December 12, 2000, and ended on January 26, 2001, insofar as 
        such auction related to spectrum previously licensed to 
        NextWave Personal Communications, Inc., NextWave Power 
        Partners, Inc., or Urban Comm-North Carolina, Inc.
            (2) Winning bidder.--The term ``winning bidder'' means 
        those bidders whose applications for auction 35 licenses the 
        Commission accepted for filing, as listed in Appendix A to 
        Public Notice DA 01-520, issued by the Commission on February 
        27, 2001.
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