The Federal Communications Commission is understood to have reached a compromise deal, so as to avoid a protracted legal battle that would delay the release of funds to the government. The money is needed to finance the economic program that was initiated following the attacks on New York and Washington.
The major stumbling block is a request from Verizon Wireless for a one-year grace period before it has to pay the $8 billion that it bid for blocks of NextWave spectrum. Therefore any agreement between the FCC and NextWave will have to be approved by the Office of Management and Budget, as it will leave the American government with about $5 billion less than it had originally expected.
