It has been an up and down year for LightSquared, because the company lined up plenty of customers for its wholesale LTE network, but GPS interference issues have put the would-be wireless provider’s plans on hold while it waits for FCC approval. In accordance with a report by Reuters, LightSquared’s finances may prevent it from exercising the patience had to wait that long, because it posted a $427 million net loss through the first nine months of 2011. Apparently, the corporate needs a cash infusion by Q2 of 2012 to pay the masses of millions it owes Sprint under their agreement , make its debt payments and continue with its business plans. Naturally, it will become hard to get the dollars it needs without FCC approval, so LightSquared has filed a petition with the FCC asking the commission to verify its rights to the spectrum LightSquared licensed over eight years ago. Now, we play the waiting game to determine if the FCC full-court press gives LightSquared’s LTE network the fairway light. Meanwhile, take a look at a replica of the petition on the second source below.
RESTON, Va., Dec. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — LightSquared today asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to verify LightSquared’s right to apply the spectrum licensed to the corporate by the government. Besides, the corporate asked the FCC to verify that commercial GPS manufacturers haven’t any right to interference protection from LightSquared’s network since they aren’t licensed users of that spectrum.
“The only inescapable conclusion from two rounds of independent testing is that the incompatibility problem will not be attributable to LightSquared’s network,” said LightSquared’s executive vice chairman for regulatory affairs and public policy Jeff Carlisle. “It can be clear that GPS devices are purposefully designed to appear into LightSquared’s licensed spectrum, and given this evidence, we believe decision-makers should consider LightSquared’s legal rights because the licensee.”
The corporate asserts that commercial GPS manufacturers are accountable for having designed and sold unlicensed devices that use spectrum licensed to LightSquared and its predecessor companies.
“(C)ommercial GPS receivers aren’t licensed, don’t operate under any service rules, and thus will not be entitled to any interference protection whatsoever,” LightSquared wrote in its petition to the agency. The petition also notes that the FCC itself has stated that the GPS industry have been on notice for nearly a decade that LightSquared was planning to exploit its spectrum to launch a nationwide broadband network.
“LightSquared has had FCC authorization to construct its network for over eight years and that authorization was endorsed by the GPS industry, and entirely reviewed and allowed to proceed by several other government agencies,” said Carlisle. “Commercial GPS device-makers have had nearly a decade to design and sell devices that don’t infringe on LightSquared’s licensed spectrum. They’ve got no right to complain within the eleventh-hour about incompatibility after they had ample opportunity to circumvent this problem.”
As well as greater than 300 million GPS-enabled mobile phones that government testing has confirmed fit with LightSquared’s spectrum, several GPS device manufacturers, including Javad GNSS and Hemisphere, have also successfully developed and tested devices which are also compatible. The construction of those LightSquared-compatible GPS devices proves that GPS manufacturers may have designed their equipment to filter LightSquared’s signals and avoid interference.
“While we ask the FCC today to substantiate our legal rights, LightSquared remains fully committed to cooperate with all parties – the GPS industry, GPS users, and the government – with the intention that LightSquared’s network is deployed in a method which is compatible with GPS users,” said Carlisle. “LightSquared has always recognized the critical importance of the GPS system, and we firmly believe that GPS devices can peacefully co-exist adjacent to our network.”
“This petition goes to the very core of the FCC’s mission, that is making sure that the nation’s airwaves are governed by regulatory certainty,” said Sanjiv Ahuja, LightSquared chairman and chief executive officer. “Within the 21st century, the fair and efficient management of the nation’s spectrum will unleash a technological revolution in wireless broadband which will bring untold benefits to all Americans.
“To encourage private innovation, entrepreneurs have to have confidence and certainty over their rights to exploit spectrum granted by the FCC. Our country’s future technological and economic achievements rely upon an organization adherence to the guideline of law.”
LightSquared has made a commitment to bring world-class wireless broadband connectivity to 260 million Americans by 2015 – and to take action by investing $14 billion in private equity in our nation’s broadband infrastructure. The corporate will continue to work with the government to reach at a whole solution, in order that it could realize the promise of creating out the nation’s first wholesale-only nationwide 4G-LTE network integrated with satellite coverage. The network will create jobs, foster competition and convey cheaper wireless broadband to underserved communities across America.
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