House Small Business Chairman Calls for More LightSquared Tests
LightSquared Executive Vice President Jeff Carlisle found himself in the hot seat once again Wednesday, before a hearing of the House Small Business Committee. Several members conceded that LightSquared poses a dilemma for the committee. Many small businesses in rural America are desperate for broadband, but at the same time many also rely on precision GPS receivers as part of doing business.
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"I agree that we need to find innovative ways to provide high-speed Internet access to under-served areas,” said Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo. Still, Graves said, “thousands of small businesses rely on an accurate GPS signal for their day-to-day operations, and potential interference could severely handicap or impair their business.” Graves, also a farmer, said at the close of the hearing he will send a letter to the FCC “reinforcing the need for comprehensive tests” and will follow the process closely.
Graves zeroed in on Carlisles’s testimony that LightSquared would mean “little or no” degradation for most GPS users. “In aviation we deal with zero tolerances,” he said. “If there’s any concern out there we're going to end up having to retrofit and filter."
"The fact is we should only move forward if this can be done while absolutely assuring the safety of life and aviation,” Carlisle responded. “We're working with the aviation community in order to do that. That is something that we believe is nonnegotiable.” LightSquared won’t cost the aviation community anything, Carlisle said. “That’s where we want to be.” Graves asked how that is possible. “Aviation receivers will not have to be replaced,” Carlisle responded. “We are taking all of the cost of solving the issue on our side, which is over $100 million, by the way."
Graves also asked Carlisle about LightSquared’s plans for the upper 10 MHz of the L band. Eventual use of that spectrum “worries me a great deal,” Graves said. Under its current proposal, made in June, LightSquared will initially use only the lower 10 MHz band to limit interference concerns.
"We'll certainly continue to use it for satellite services,” Carlisle said. “We've used it there for 15 years without any issue at all with GPS.” LightSquared is only asking for a “continued dialogue” on eventual use of the upper 10 MHz band for its terrestrial wireless offering, Carlisle said. “We're open to having that discussion, open to talking about alternatives,” he said. Initially 10 MHz is adequate for the service LightSquared plans to offer, he said. “The issue is the number of devices, the amount of usage that ultimately goes on the network,” he said. “That won’t be a problem we have for at least five to six years.”
Much of the discussion before the committee focused on the cost of retrofitting GPS receivers compromised by the launch of LightSquared. The committee must be concerned about both the cost of the retrofitting itself and potential cost of the lost use of GPS equipment, said Ranking Member Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y. “This is the Small Business Committee,” she said. “We are here because we understand that it could have a negative impact on small businesses.”
Rick Greene, precision agronomy manager at MFA, a farm supply and marketing cooperative, said the company has approximately 250 high-accuracy GPS units in the field. “Assuming LightSquared’s filter is going to cost around $800,” it would cost the company some $400,000 to buy and install filters on all its units.
"Filtering is not the only solution,” Carlisle said. “Filtering is the solution for high precision receivers. For the vast number of small businesses who day-to-day only use consumer-level devices … moving down to [the lower band] and lowering our power level is going to address the issue for them."
GPS industry witnesses called for more testing before LightSquared is allowed to open for business.
"We need to do some testing,” said Dennis Boykin, managing principal at DB4 Consulting. “Things aren’t always as they appear to be in the [radio frequency] spectrum.” Years working for Motorola “taught me that when you get two or more radios in close proximity, things get different,” he said.
"We all agree that we need more broadband services in the country, no doubt,” said Tim Taylor, CEO of FreeFlight Systems, a supplier of avionics system solutions. “I cannot tell you there is a fast answer for this. I think it is going to take time and analysis and interaction. I can’t see any other answer, I am afraid."
"There’s nothing wrong with testing and, in fact, we're fully supportive of the further testing that NTIA asked for,” Carlisle replied. “There’s been a more comprehensive testing of this issue than any other interference issue ever presented to the FCC. There were 130 devices tested in eight independent labs over a series of months … and that was just the industry testing.”
The issues raised “needed to be and still need to be aired out,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. “I find myself in one of those conflicting pieces of real estate,” he said. Iowa farmers are concerned about the impact on GPS but “also can use a little more broadband,” King said.