[08-12-11] Wholesale 4G LTE network operator LightSquared<\/b> filed its latest grievance with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission<\/b> (FCC) Aug. 11, in a letter claiming that the GPS industry failed to comply with the U.S. Department of Defense<\/b>\u2019s filtering standards, which created the root cause of its potential GPS signal interference issues.
\n LightSquared Executive Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy Jeffrey Carlisle wrote in the letter that the GPS industry ignored the Pentagon\u2019s September 2008 GPS Positioning Service Performance Standard, which called for GPS receivers to filter out transmissions from adjacent bands in order to achieve its intended performance requirements.
\n \u201cHad the GPS industry complied with Pentagon\u2019s recommended filtering standards for GPS receivers, there would be no issue with LightSquared\u2019s operations in the lower portion of its downlink band,\u201d Carlisle said in the filing. \u201cIn addition to ignoring the Department of Defense standard, the GPS industry also has spurned international recommendations for GPS receiver design. Since 2000, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has cautioned that a more stringent pre-correlator filter may be needed to protect GPS receiver operations from adjacent band RF emissions.\u201d
\n A constant barrage of statements and press releases between LightSquared, GPS industry groups and the FCC have flooded the media market since January 2011, when Garmin<\/b> engineers filed test results with FCC claiming that LightSquared\u2019s 4G LTE interference would result in GPS dead zones across the United States. The engineers highlighted that LightSquared\u2019s signals could disrupt navigation equipment on aircraft, boats, tractors and automobiles. The FCC is now considering whether to grant final approval to LightSquared\u2019s network rollout, which plans to connect 260 million subscribers using bandwidth previously reserved for satellites.
\n The LightSquared complaint follows comments made by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at a press conference earlier this week. When asked about how the negotiations were progressing, Genachowski said the agency was, \u201cconducting an engineering, fact-based process. We\u2019re not going to do anything that creates problems for GPS safety and service as we explore technical solutions that will both protect GPS and allow a new service to launch. We haven\u2019t set a deadline for our decision, and we\u2019re considering whether more testing may be needed.\u201d
\n A satellite market analyst, who asked not to be named for this story, told Satellite News<\/i> that the recent comments being issued from both sides of the table reveal frustration and stubbornness in coming to a reasonable resolution. \u201cLightSquared may be working under the assumption that they are trying to communicate their confidence in their stance to the media, but all they\u2019re really doing is worrying investors,\u201d the analyst said. \u201cThe FCC is clearly bothered by the blame game and, judging by Genachowski\u2019s comments, may feel that LightSquared is trying to push their way through to an approval. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to work.\u201d
\n LightSquared has made efforts on its behalf to come up with alternatives. Shortly after test results were released indicating one of LightSquared\u2019s 10-megahertz (MHz) frequency blocks as an interference threat to GPS receivers in June, LightSquared announced it entered negotiations with MSS operator Inmarsat<\/b> to accelerate the schedule for the company to begin using Inmarsat L-band block frequencies. LightSquared said its own research determined that the lower 10 MHz block of the spectrum would not create interference risks as it is located farther away from the GPS frequencies.
\n Carlisle said that GPS manufacturers have been unreasonable in coming to an agreement, recently rejecting LightSquared\u2019s offer of a 23 MHz guard band that would be created by LightSquared\u2019s decision to begin its terrestrial operations in the lower half of the downlink band.
\n \u201cThe [U.S. Department of Defense] standard, in effect, grants GPS a 4 MHz \u2018guard band.\u2019 Instead, the GPS industry unreasonably insists on a 34 MHz guard band, which is 8.5 times as wide as the Pentagon\u2019s recommendation,\u201d Carlisle wrote in the filing. \u201cIf all spectrum users demanded the irrational guard band solutions that GPS manufacturers are demanding, we would not have broadband in this country and efficient spectrum use would take a backseat to the squeakiest wheel. This type of precedent would set the United States\u2019 competitiveness back by decades. By demanding that LightSquared be prevented from building a ground service that has been authorized for years, the GPS manufacturers are simply trying to formalize squatting for free on someone else\u2019s licensed spectrum.\u201d
\n The analyst agreed with LightSquared\u2019s assertion that the GPS industry has a responsibility to use its licensed spectrum in accordance with international and federal government standards, but added that the argument is being used to hint at financial motivations.
\n \u201cLightSquared makes this statement and then tacks on a jab that the GPS industry benefits from taxpayer subsidies and is completely dependent on a government satellite system. In the next sentence, the company says that they remain committed to working in partnership with \u2018responsible\u2019 members of the GPS industry. This is unnecessary political posturing,\u201d the analyst said. \u201cIt is entirely possible that LightSquared can work out this issue with the GPS industry and launch its 4G LTE service on time, and they should because investors and consumers are excited about it. These back-and-forth attacks, however, solidify LightSquared\u2019s private and public sector opponents while creating a much more difficult environment at the negotiating table.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[08-12-11] Wholesale 4G LTE network operator LightSquared filed its latest grievance with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Aug. 11, in a letter claiming that the GPS industry failed to comply with the U.S. Department of Defense\u2019s filtering standards, which created the root cause of its potential GPS signal interference issues. LightSquared Executive Vice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84386"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}