Broadband and telecom provider Windstream has gotten the OK from the financial disaster court docket to access “up to $400 million of its $1 billion in debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) financing” so it may preserve “commercial enterprise as usual” whilst it reorganizes underneath Chapter 11.

Among that ordinary business is bidding in the FCC’s millimeter wave spectrum (24 GHz) inside the FCC auction that begins March 14. At least it’s miles, a qualified bidder, and has furnished an upfront charge to the FCC as of Feb. 19.

A Windstream spokesperson had no longer again a call for comment at press time approximately whether and how the financial disaster might affect its bidding at the spectrum that’s being freed up for 5 G. The company had said whilst announcing it had become reorganized — following a courtroom choice that didn’t affect its manner (a bondholder dispute) — that the $1 billion financing dedication from Citigroup Global Markets, plus coins from ongoing operations, might allow it to keep operating “business as usual.”

As is traditional for Windstream, more of that commercial enterprise is constructing out broadband with government subsidies through the Universal Service Fund, something a few in Washington have been urging the organization to maintain through the financial ruin system. “Despite its financial ruin reputation, the weight of Windstream’s economic issues can not fall on the shoulders of taxpayers who rely on their services to get access to the Internet,” stated Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.). “Windstream needs to preserve to meet its responsibilities under the Connect America Fund to provide broadband service to rural communities like northeast Georgia.”