TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Auction Winner BDPCS Fails to Make Payment: The Portola Valley, Calif.-based firm won $873.8 million in licenses for advanced wireless telecommunications service at a recent government auction for small businesses, but it failed to make its down payment on time, federal regulators said. As a result, the Federal Communications Commission will reauction the 17 licenses that BDPCS Inc. won, or award each license to the next highest bidder. The auction, which ended May 6, brought in $10.2 billion for the Treasury and was the most lucrative federal auction in history. BDPCS was to have paid as much as $43.7 million by May 15, the FCC said. The company, backed by $25 million from Samsung Corp. of Korea, sought a payment waiver, which the FCC rejected.