| The PCS C Block Mess |
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| The FCC as Auctioneer and Banker |
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| Start: |
Friday, November 30, 2001
10:00 AM
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| End: |
Friday, November 30, 2001
12:00 PM
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| Location: |
Wohlstetter Conference Center, twelfth floor, AEI
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
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| While the Federal Communications Commission auctioned and assigned PCS A and B block licenses in 1995, America still waits for service in the C block. Auctions in 1996 allowed C license winners to extend payments for ten years at below-market interest rates. The result was a series of defaults, regulatory delays, and bankruptcies. In January 2001 the commission reauctioned C block licenses, which sold for about $16 billion total; but recently a federal court awarded many of those same licenses to one of the 1996 auction winners that had filed for bankruptcy protection. In effect, the FCC auctioned licenses that did not belong to the government, and now there are rival sets of auction "winners." What now? |
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| 9:45 a.m. |
Registration |
| 10:00 a.m. |
Welcome: |
Robert W. Hahn, AEI-Brookings Joint Center |
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Panelists: |
Rudy L. Baca, Precursor Group |
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Harold Furchtgott-Roth, AEI |
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George Reed-Dellinger, Washington Analysis |
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John Thorne, Verizon |
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Moderator: |
Thomas W. Hazlett, AEI |
| Noon |
Adjournment | |
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More Information
Lisa Hazelbaker
American Enterprise Institute
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-862-5903
Fax: 202-862-7177
E-mail: LHazelbaker@aei.org
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Media Inquiries
Veronique Rodman
American Enterprise Institute
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-862-4870
E-mail: VRodman@aei.org
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