FCC Doesn’t Owe Compensation After Seizing Carrier’s Spectrum

By Kyle Daly

The Federal Communications Commission doesn’t need to compensate a now-bankrupt wireless company for airwaves licenses the agency seized for missed payments, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

Alpine PCS Inc., which had declared bankruptcy and is no longer in business, sued the government in 2016 to seek at least $21million after the FCC years earlier reclaimed and resold spectrum licenses the company intended to use for planned wireless services in California.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sided with a lower court’s tossing of the lawsuit over jurisdiction and the timing of Alpine’s claims. ...