The Federal Communications Commission is blocking an investment firm’s access to valuable wireless spectrum and threatening to take away its licenses because of a paperwork filing error – and the firm’s executives warn that customers in rural America will pay the price, On The Money has learned.
Brevet Capital, with around $2.5 billion in assets under management, has been locked in what appears to be a strange, two-year bureaucratic snafu with regulators that began when it took over licenses for 112 satellites as part of a bankruptcy proceeding in 2021.
“Strange” might be the operative word because the Trump administration has vowed to cut bureaucratic red tape to expand the economy. The people at Brevet tell me they can’t seem to get a clear answer from the FCC on how it can remedy the situation and put the spectrum to use.
“Should the FCC reject the licenses outright, this could have real-world implications,” Brevet Capital CEO Douglas Monticciolo told On The Money. “It runs counter to the Trump administration’s goals of expanding nationwide connectivity – all over a paper filing mix-up. Who will want to make similar capital investments in the spectrum if this is how they’re treated?”
An FCC spokesman had no comment.
Brevet aims to build out high-speed internet access to rural America, its reps tell me. But the FCC bureaucrats have the final say over spectrum usage; they can literally take away spectrum licenses from companies for cause, such as failure to build out telecom networks in a timely fashion, eventually forcing the sale to another party.
That’s what got Charlie Ergen, the billionaire CEO of EchoStar, into a tangle with the FCC, which alleged he had failed to completely build out a 5G network as part of a deal with the Justice Department to OK the 2019 Sprint merger with T-Mobile.
Key to approval was Ergen buying Sprint’s Boost Mobile subsidiary and building out a fourth wireless carrier.
The FCC claimed Ergen wasn’t meeting his deadlines and threatened to take control of licenses, moves that could have forced EchoStar to file for bankruptcy. Eventually, as reported by On The Money, President Trump intervened, allowing Ergen to sell his licenses mainly to SpaceX and AT&T.
Brevet’s issues appear far less convoluted. The FCC revoked its license in 2024 when an independent, court-appointed bankruptcy receiver failed to make a timely filing with the commission, something to do with taking out an insurance bond on the spectrum, firm officials say.
Since then both sides have been haggling. Brevet’s reps tell On The Money the FCCs position runs counter to the agency’s goal of “providing the private sector a predictable regulatory framework rooted in: speed, simplicity, security, and satellite spectrum abundance.”
The issue hasn’t yet drawn the attention of the FCC’s top brass, including chairman Brendan Carr – a staunch proponent of expanding internet access to rural America. Carr has also called out the commission over its bureaucratic reputation.
While the Brevet situation may not merit his involvement, it is a reminder, people at Brevet say, that for all the talk about DOGE-ing the size of government, the Trump administration has some work to do when it comes to reducing red tape.
