Straight Path Communications and Verizon Communications have paid the largest civil penalty ever to the U.S. Treasury, over $600 million, to resolve an FCC investigation. Straight Path entered into a settlement agreement in January of 2017 with the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to resolve allegations that it failed to use its 39 GHz band spectrum in violation of the FCC’s buildout and discontinuance rules in connection with approximately 1,000 licenses. Pursuant to the settlement, Straight Path was required to sell its licenses and remit 20 percent of the proceeds of the sale. Straight Path entered into an agreement with Verizon in May of 2017 to transfer the licenses, and in January 2018, the FCC approved the transfer. This payment is in addition to the $15 million that Straight Path already paid to relinquish 196 licenses not included in its sale to Verizon.
