Telecom Lead America:
LightSquared said that a ruling proposed by FCC that would effectively revoke
LightSquared’s license to operate its network is unsupported by the law,
science, and FCC policy.
The commission’s proposal is wholly inconsistent with a
proposal the Commission made last week in the case of another terrestrial
network that raised interference concerns.
The company explained its position in a filing to the FCC in
response to comments by the GPS industry and others as part of the Public
Notice issued by the FCC regarding the proposed action.
FCC need not and should not embrace the false choice
presented by the GPS industry between preserving LightSquared’s ancillary
terrestrial component (ATC) authority to deploy a wireless broadband network
and maintaining GPS service. In fact, both goals can be achieved. The
law, the equities, the facts, and the public interest demand that the
Commission seek to do so, according to LightSquared.
The FCC’s response in this matter is wholly incongruous and
disproportionate. The FCC Public Notice11-109 proposes to essentially turn its
back on LightSquared and its multi-billion dollar investment in wireless
broadband after the Commission mandated that the company deploy its network on
an accelerated timeframe. LightSquared’s proposed network is the only one that
can be implemented quickly, and provide a wholesale alternative across the
country to wireless companies and their customers, according to Jeffrey
Carlisle, executive vice president for regulatory affairs and public policy for
LightSquared.
The company is the primary licensed spectrum user in the
mobile satellite services MSS/ATC band, and its spectrum should be protected
under the FCC’s own rules. Receivers of the GPS industry are operating
outside of their assigned spectrum and are not protected under FCC rules when
doing so, LightSquared said.
The GPS industry has been well aware since 2005 that
LightSquared had FCC approval to build a nationwide terrestrial network using
its assigned spectrum, and as such, the FCC must work to implement a resolution
that allows LightSquared to go forward so all Americans can have the benefits
of innovation, lower prices and greater competition that this network will
provide.
Even as it proposed to terminate LightSquared’s terrestrial
network, last week the Commission proposed to assign new spectrum to another
operator (DISH) whose terrestrial network also has raised interference
concerns.
