Stung by recent tests that showed potential interference with ground-based GPS systems, LightSquared has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking to confirm the company’s rights to use its 1.6 GHz spectrum license.
LightSquared has said that the interference issues with GPS systems is being caused by devices that are reaching beyond the spectrum set aside for GPS systems and into LightSquared’s spectrum bands.
“The one inescapable conclusion from two rounds of independent testing is that the incompatibility problem is not caused by LightSquared’s network,” said Jeff Carlisle, LightSquared’s executive vice president for regulatory affairs and public policy. “It is clear that GPS devices are purposefully designed to look into LightSquared’s licensed spectrum, and given this evidence, we believe decision-makers should consider LightSquared’s legal rights as the licensee.”
LightSquared stated that it received FCC authorization to build a network using its 1.6 GHz spectrum more than eight years ago, an authorization that was endorsed by the GPS industry and reviewed by several government agencies.
“Commercial GPS device-makers have had nearly a decade to design and sell devices that do not infringe on LightSquared’s licensed spectrum,” LightSquared noted in its filing. “They have no right to complain in the eleventh-hour about incompatibility when they had ample opportunity to avoid this problem.”
LightSquared also noted that it has developed filters that will allow GPS manufacturers to produce devices that do not infringe on LightSquared’s spectrum, though that solution is not expected to have any impact on the millions of GPS devices currently used by consumers.
In the filing, LightSquared also took the line that its petition seeks to set a precedent for all spectrum holders in that companies that own spectrum licenses should have the right to use all of those spectrum assets.
“This petition goes to the very core of the FCC’s mission, which is to ensure that the nation’s airwaves are governed by regulatory certainty,’’ said LightSquared Chairman and CEO Sanjiv Ahuja. “In the 21st century, the fair and efficient management of the nation’s spectrum will unleash a technological revolution in wireless broadband that will bring untold benefits to all Americans. To encourage private innovation, entrepreneurs must have confidence and certainty over their rights to use spectrum granted by the FCC. Our country’s future technological and economic achievements depend on a firm adherence to the rule of law.”
Further adding to the LightSquared drama are reports that the company could run out of funding over within the next several quarters. LightSquared recently signed a network and spectrum hosting agreement with Sprint Nextel that could cost LightSquared in excess of $9 billion over an 11-year period.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter?
