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Grassley: FCC reversing LightSquared approval not enough
Feb 15, 2012 (The Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is not satisfied that the FCC has dropped conditional approval this for LightSquared's embattled wireless technology -- he wants to know how it was every approved in the first place.
Critics have challenged the FCC's conditional approval of LightSquared's combined satellite/terrestrial communications network because it would interfere with GPS systems operating on neighboring radio bands.
The issue was of intense interest to some of Grassley's constituents, including Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins, a leading producer of military GPS handheld receivers.
Grassley has been asking the FCC without success since April 2011 for documents related to the agency's decision to fast-track the LightSquared wireless broadband project over the GPS concerns.
The GPS concerns were the overriding factor in the FCC's decision after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration released findings that it could not find a way to resolve the spectrum conflicts between LightSquared and GPS receivers.
"The FCC's action seems to acknowledge the point I've been making since April," Grassley said. "Prematurely granting a conditional waiver in a rushed process is not the way to get the right result. Now that the interference issue is settled, we need to find out more than ever why the FCC did what it did ..." Grassley said in prepared remarks.
"If we don't find out how and why the FCC failed to avoid this controversy, then it will keep operating as a closed shop instead of the open, publicly accountable agency it should be," Grassley added.
LightSquared planned a network that would link satellite communications with 40,000 cellular base stations that would transmit and receive in a frequency range close to GPS.
Telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan said the FCC determination could seal the fate of LightSquared. He said the company offered a promising solution for smaller cellular carriers that are in dire need of additional wireless spectrum as bandwidth demand driven by wireless data users clogs their networks.
Kagan said the largest wireless carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon, opposed LightSquared in part to block their competitors.
RESTON, Va., February 14, 2012 -- In response to the NTIA's recommendation to the FCC today regarding LightSquared's network, the company said it remains committed to finding a resolution with the federal government and the GPS industry to resolve all remaining concerns. LightSquared is confident that the parties will continue the ongoing efforts to explore all engineering options and alternatives to find a solution to this difficult issue.
The NTIA's recommendation relied on the flawed conclusions of the PNT ExCOM about LightSquared's potential impact on GPS.
LightSquared Tuesday said that it remains committed to finding a solution and "profoundly disagrees" with the NTIA's recommendations. It said the recommendation disregards more than a decade of regulatory orders and jeopardizes private enterprise, jobs and investment.
"NTIA relies on interference standards that have never been used in this context, and were forced by the GPS community in order to reach the conclusions presented today," the LightSquared statement said. "This, together with a severely flawed testing process that relied on obsolete and niche devices, shows that the FCC should take the NTIA's recommendation with a generous helping of salt."
___ (c)2012 The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Visit The Gazette (Cedar Rapids,
Iowa) at thegazette.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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