LightSquared continued its push to alleviate GPS interference fears announcing the creation of its Empower Rural America initiative designed to provide a platform where the company will work with rural communities to reduce interference between LightSquared’s network and GPS systems.
LightSquared said the initiative will be led by an advisory board that will include former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan and former Representatives George Nethercutt of Washington and Charlie Stenholm of Texas.
In addition to curtailing GPS interference, LightSquared said the plan will also look at the deployment of satellite and mobile broadband services for both citizens and public safety officials.
LightSquared noted that during recent tornadoes that struck parts of the Midwest, public safety officials relied on the company’s satellite-based network for communications after local cellular networks were knocked out.
LightSquared has made a significant push into the rural carrier market looking to attract smaller carriers to its planned wholesale offering.
LightSquared filed a report with the Federal Communications Commission last week claiming that its decision to use a different section of spectrum to launch its LTE-based service would eliminate interference issues with 99.5% of commercial GPS devices. The report also put some of the interference blame on GPS device makers, claiming many were engineering their devices to use spectrum outside of their allotted bands.
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