Melcher v. Federal Communications Commission

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge WALD.

WALD, Circuit Judge:

This case involves the Local Multipoint Distribution Service (“LMDS”), a new wireless mode of communication that supports video, voice, and data services. The crux of the dispute concerns the Federal Communication Commission’s (“FCC”) decision to bar incumbent local telephone companies (known as local exchange carriers, or “LECs”), including rural local telephone companies, from holding LMDS licenses in the same geographic areas in which they provide telephone service, for three years from the date of the upcoming LMDS…