Lightsquared Goes "All In" With Latest Salvo

Last week was a very active week in the battle between Lightsquared and GPS companies over what to do about interference issues with Lightsquared's proposed deployment of a wireless high-speed Internet service. We provided the 60-second update in this space last Thursday, which ended with the government stating that Lightsquared's broadcast indeed does cause significant interference.

Lightsquared's latest salvo in the fight clearly concedes that interference exists, but puts the blame squarely on GPS manufacturers for its lack of readiness for Lightsquared's inevitable launch -- and it wants FCC to make GPS companies fully responsible for the remedy.

On Tuesday, the company petitioned the FCC to make specific declarations on the following points as laid out in the petition:

1. Manufacturers and users of unlicensed commercial GPS receivers lack standing to file complaints or other pleadings seeking “protection” from allegedly incompatible operations in adjacent MSS bands—including ATC operations—that are permitted by the Commission’s rules and the U. S. Table of Frequency Allocations

2. Commercial GPS receivers have no independent right to “protection” from operations in adjacent MSS bands, independent of the license conditions that limit the out-of-band power that may be emitted by MSS band transmitters into the RNSS band, and other than the benefit afforded by the guard band that should separate LightSquared’s terrestrial operations in the MSS band from commercial GPS operations in the RNSS band.

3. Commercial GPS devices that receive GPS signals in the MSS band are “nonconforming” and inconsistent with the MSS allocation in that band, and as such are not entitled to any “protection” regardless of whether they are licensed.

4. The costs of ensuring that GPS devices are compatible with adjacent band operations—including any costs necessary to retrofit legacy devices—are the responsibility of GPS manufacturers—or, at a minimum, are not the obligation of MSS/ATC licensees. LightSquared respectfully requests that the Commission issue the requested declaratory ruling on an expedited basis to ensure that consumers can benefit from the competitive retail services to be offered over LightSquared’s network as soon as possible.

You can find the entire filing here.

The FCC has its hands full on this one. It looks to me like LightSquared has pushed all its chips onto the table and is demanding an up or down vote from the commission on whose problem the interference is. Siding with LightSquared would force GPS companies to develop and enforce the remedy, and there's plenty of uncertainty about what that remedy would be, what it would take to implement it, and whether a practical remedy is even feasible. Try to imagine reconfiguring the thousands and thousands of GPS receivers to block out the LightSquared broadcast and achieve the consistent, accurate signal required in agriculture.

GPS companies have not indicated making a response, but may at some point weigh in. In the meantime, the FCC has quite a heavy weight to negotiate as it considers a ruling of incredible consequence to agriculture and rural America. We'll be watching. 

And this, just over the transom ... Rick Greene from MFA turned me on to an interesting overview article that appeared in Forbes. For you information hounds, here's the link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2011/12/21/falcones-lights...