LightSquared Advised That Further Testing is Needed

In consultation with the National Telecommunications and information Agency (NTIA), the FCC has determined that additional testing is needed to ensure that potential terrestrial services offered by LightSquared will not cause harmful interference to GPS operations. In their September 13 Public Notice, the FCC stated that testing based on technical modifications to LightSquared’s proposed commercial service, including limiting its operation to the lower 10 MHz of its assigned spectrum, demonstrated “significant improvement” compared to testing using the entire 20 MHz. However, the FCC added that interference with certain types of high precision GPS receivers, “including devices used in national security and aviation applications,” dictated that additional testing be conducted. Miraculously, and within a short period of time after the FCC’s announcement that more work needs to be done, LightSquared announced that it has signed an agreement with Javad GNSS Inc. “to develop a system that will make it possible for high-precision GPS devices to co-exist with LightSquared’s network.” The company has stated that the system is already designed, that preproduction units will be available for public testing in October 2011, and that production units will follow shortly thereafter. We shall see.