The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC Circuit) has affirmed a district court’s ruling in favor of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over Alpine PCS, Inc. (Alpine). In May 1996, Alpine won two FCC spectrum licenses at auction. Alpine agreed to pay a portion of the winning bids in installments with interest and executed a contract with the FCC memorializing the payment terms. Alpine failed to make timely payments, and the FCC exercised its contract rights by reauctioning the spectrum licenses. Alpine first unsuccessfully appealed the FCC’s denial of its requests for installment payment deadline restructuring or waiver to the DC Circuit in 2010. More recently, Alpine sued the FCC for breach of contract in federal district court. The district court dismissed the contract suit for lack of jurisdiction, and the DC Circuit just affirmed that ruling.
