Spectrum, Mobile Broadband Investment, Next-Gen GPS Played Up in LightSquared ATC Authority Debate

SI Wireless said approving the FCC’s revocation proposal would affect its capacity agreement with LightSquared. SIW urged the commission against making a decision that “would inhibit LightSquared’s ability to deploy its planned terrestrial 4G LTE network.” The company said it is concerned that such a decision “will have a particularly adverse effect on its consumers in rural markets.” SIW needs a viable corporate partner to help in its effort to deliver 4G data services throughout its rural markets, it said. Purchasing wholesale capacity on LightSquared’s network “offers SIW a solution for enhancing its service offerings in direct competition with the few national … carriers that are already providing LTE services."

LightSquared also received support from Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), which urged the commission not to suspend ATC authorization or vacate the company’s conditional waiver order. Doing so would halt “much needed investment in mobile broadband, costing jobs and economic growth,” the group said in its reply. The FCC could work with LightSquared, NTIA and other federal agencies “to find or swap spectrum outside the 152-1559 MHz band that is suitable."

The FCC also is reviewing replies received last week from LightSquared, the U.S. GPS Industry Council and The Coalition to Save Our GPS (CD April 2 p 18).

Concepts to Operations (CTO), a public safety communications engineering firm, urged the commission to help develop adequate filters “to ensure that the next generation of GPS receivers operate within their designated frequency range.” The commission failed in its obligation “to develop, approve and enforce the recommended filtering as suggested by NTIA in earlier proceedings,” CTO said in reply. The firm criticized what it called “the lack of technical ability” at the FCC: “Too often the FCC has granted waiver after waiver to rules and regulations due to them being outdated or technologically obsolete.” The commission had more than eight years to understand the change in the mobile satellite services band and the implication of the approval for ATC augmentation, CTO said.

The FCC is reasonably exercising its authority to protect the public interest by rescinding the conditional waiver and suspending ATC authority, Deere said. “No one questions the need for better broadband coverage, but the public interest would not be served if other critical national infrastructure -- the GPS system -- is simply sacrificed to LightSquared’s plan.” Deere estimates that the degradation or disruption of high precision GPS signals “could result in a negative impact to U.S. farmers of $14 billion to $30 billion annually.” Empirical testing and modeling confirms that LightSquared’s proposed network “would create devastating interference for many GPS systems,” like safety-of-life applications and devices embedded in critical U.S. infrastructure, it said.

LightSquared’s argument that vacating the waiver and losing its ATC authority would “amount to a regulatory taking that could result in the government being financially liable to LightSquared” is not persuasive, Deere said. It can’t show that it has a property interest subject to the Fifth Amendment takings analysis and “it exaggerates the economic impact on its business by conveniently omitting any discussion of the satellite authorizations it will continue to retain."

The replies on both sides of the discussion pointed to spectrum availability. Spectrum delivery is years away and “it is uncertain how much spectrum will ultimately be made available,” said SIW. LightSquared has a carefully crafted business plan and is on its way to delivering much-needed spectrum capacity to the wireless marketplace, it said. It’s not in the public interest “to completely derail this effort when another viable alternative is unclear.” The commission should hire in-house or outsource highly technical functions to ensure that it has the best and the brightest advising it “on future spectrum policy rather than a cadre of lawyers,” CTO said. The FCC and the federal government must ensure that LightSquared is made financially whole, CTO added. LightSquared should be directed to “provide a complete analysis of funds and equipment committed to its license."

To the extent that the current system ensures property rights for spectrum, “GPS receivers could be in violation of the law,” Americans for Tax Reform said. “Unlicensed receivers are not permitted to cause harmful interference or else that interference must be accepted.” In this instance, interference is caused by GPS receivers, which failed “to adequately filter the bands licensed to LightSquared,” the group said.