LightSquared Still Up in the Air Over GPS
LightSquared was defending its plan before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a satellite-based cell phone network that would use land-based towers to pump up signals. This would make broadband access available in most parts of the country, including under-served rural areas.
GPS guidance companies, farm equipment manufacturers, the airline industry and even the Department of Defense are fighting LightSquared's plan. They say that the radio spectrum it covets sits adjacent to the spectrum used for GPS communications. The powerful LightSquared signal would leak across the spectrum, opponents say, and cause chaos among GPS guidance users, including farmers. Pilots would veer off course, drivers would get lost and farmers' tractors would wander. To prove their point, opponents leaked an internal Federal Aviation Administration study that LightSquared's plan could cause 794 air traffic deaths over 10 years. (Where do they get such specific numbers? Why not 800? Or more than 750?)
In June, the FCC said it would rule on LightSquared's plan in July. That didn't happen. The deadline was pushed back to September. Now we're hearing that LightSquared has until November to prove its contention that its system and GPS guidance can peacefully co-exist.
LightSquared maintains that its signal will not interfere with GPS signals. It also says that if there is interference, it is because GPS guidance equipment is not built to high enough standards. LightSquared even has offered to limit power levels to alleviate GPS concerns.
As the FCC mulls the existing testimony and expected scientific test results, the political waters around the controversy get murkier and murkier. First, some Republicans contend that the tentative approval LightSquared got for its project last winter was the result of Democrat lobbying of the FCC. Seems LightSquared's primary backer, hedge fun magnate Philip Falcone, has been a generous contributor to the Democratic Party.
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