May 1, 2011 12:00 AM, By Lynnette Luna

The GPS sector — from vendors to service providers to end users — are concerned that LightSquared's proposed mobile broadband offering will intrude upon their spectrum and cause harmful interference to their operations. LightSquared and the FCC both say that won't happen. Given the importance of GPS, they need to be right.

LightSquared’s plan for a nationwide wholesale high-speed mobile broadband network that leverages Long-Term Evolution technology increasingly has come under fire because of the network’s potential to interfere with GPS signals across the United States. It’s a situation that may very well turn into a bitter fight in Washington as the Federal Communications Commission looks to fulfill some major policy goals that center on broadband availability.

In January, LightSquared received conditional approval from the FCC to launch services using L-band satellite spectrum, which sits next to GPS spectrum. However, LightSquared must adhere to certain restrictions, which include keeping signals within their assigned frequencies in the L-band. The company also must work with the GPS sector to test existing GPS-enabled devices to determine what type of interference its transmissions might cause. (The company is owned by private-equity firm Harbinger Capital Partners, which purchased SkyTerra — the former Mobile Satellite Ventures — about a year ago and then folded it into LightSquared.)

The FCC also mandated that LightSquared and the U.S. Global Positioning System Industry Council (USGIC) establish a technical working group (TWG) to investigate the issues. A final report is due on June 15 of this year.

While LightSquared reports that this effort is moving along amicably, outrage from GPS vendors is growing. In addition, big industries — such as aviation, trucking and agriculture — and federal agencies — including the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) — are worried. They are concerned that the FCC moved too fast in granting a waiver to LightSquared, especially because the commission has decided to let resellers of LightSquared’s services offer terrestrial-only devices. Past FCC rules have required satellite operators to offer combination satellite/terrestrial phones, but they continue to have a difficult time finding a business case for the more expensive dual-mode devices. 

“We’ve always been playing by the rules, but LightSquared has come in and changed the rules,” said Ted Gartner, a spokesman with Garmin, which has set up a group called SaveOurGPS.org, which represents numerous industries that rely on GPS for operations. “All we are trying to do is slow down the process so we can do adequate testing. … We feel this is a real issue for public safety.”
 

Policy implications

In response, the FCC and LightSquared both point out that ground-based services in the L band have been allowed since 2003 and argue that the GPS sector did not prepare itself adequately for this development. Indeed, the sector didn’t sound the alarm over the potential interference issue until September 2010, even though a public notice made the rounds in 2009 regarding SkyTerra’s request to increase power levels from 1.6 kW to 15 kW, said Jeff Carlisle, LightSquared’s executive vice president for regulatory affairs and public policy. Garmin’s Gartner countered by saying that it is unreasonable to ask the GPS sector to “plan for the unknown.”

Bickering aside, it should be noted that the FCC has made it clear that it won’t allow LightSquared — which already has announced publicly wholesale deals with Leap Wireless, Best Buy and Open Range Communications — to operate without proof its operations don’t interfere with GPS. However, it’s also clear that the commission wants the testing process to move along rather quickly, given that the GPS task force must issue a final report next month.

Should LightSquared’s operations pass muster, it would move the FCC toward fulfilling some large policy goals, such as covering rural areas with broadband services and bringing more spectrum to market. LightSquared has promised to cover 92% of the U.S. population with its satellite/terrestrial combo. A section of the FCC’s LightSquared waiver details how the operator’s service would make terrestrial mobile wireless broadband available to a wider variety of users and that public-safety and homeland-security agencies would benefit from having broadband services when they are operating in — or transitioning between — urban, suburban or rural areas. 

Assuming it receives FCC’s approval, LightSquared has an aggressive rollout plan. First, it would launch initial trials in Baltimore, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix before the third quarter 2011. Then LightSquared plans to cover 100 million people by the end of 2012; 145 million people by the end of 2013; and at least 260 million people by the end of 2015. 

“Everyone knows the way the FCC is leaning. The question is whether other political forces will put a stop to it,” said Tim Farrar, principal analyst with TMF Associates, who has been watching the satellite sector for a long time. “It is a becoming a big political fight, and the president has gone on record talking about how critical it is to free up spectrum for more broadband. But then there are two policies in conflict if the DOD and the [Federal Aviation Administration] persuade the president to overrule the FCC. … LightSquared may very well get caught in the crossfire.”

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