But at the moment, investors are completely overlooking local telephone franchises.

In the past, the F.C.C. has allocated frequencies through either comparative hearings, which often lead to long regulatory and legal battles, or, in the case of cellular telephone franchises, by lotteries.

In 1989, hundreds of thousands of applicants clamored for billions of dollars worth of cellular telephone franchises.

This is one of my favorite telephone franchises in the country.

Threat to Local Companies Southwestern Bell already owns a cellular telephone franchise in the Washington market.

For proof of this, analysts point to the success of China Telecom, which owns the cellular telephone franchises for Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces.

A similar sort of speculation took place in the last decade when the Federal Communications Commission began awarding licenses for cellular telephone franchises.

During the 1980's, Mr. McCaw bet billions in borrowed money to snap up cellular telephone franchises, building one of the most innovative, but heavily indebted, companies in the industry.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration estimated several years ago that the combined market value of cellular telephone franchises was somewhere between $40 billion and $80 billion.

Each license authorizes a company to operate wireless services on a specific band of frequencies that cover a region somewhat larger than today's cellular telephone franchises.