The company argued that the justices should not hear the case because the appeals court ruling properly interpreted bankruptcy law, the decision did not conflict with other decisions and the FCC will not likely face the situation again since it no longer allows installment payments. The FCC tried to broker a settlement to preserve the 2001 sale of the NextWave licenses to carriers like Verizon Wireless and VoiceStream Wireless, but that fell apart when Congress recessed last year without passing the necessary legislation to authorize the deal. The various parties walked away from the settlement at the beginning of the year. But with the Supreme Court agreeing to decide the case, analysts predicted that could spark a new effort at settling the dispute. The last proposed settlement entailed NextWave giving up the rights to the disputed licenses in exchange for about $5.85 billion and the government netting $10 billion. The funds would come from the bids by the established carriers back in 2001.