LightSquared Broadband Plan Is Dead for Now
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NEWS ANALYSIS: The FCC, responding to a letter from the NTIA saying that LightSquared's proposed broadband service interferes with GPS, will not allow the company's plans to build its own network to move forward.
The Federal Communications Commission has effectively killed LightSquareds plan to build its own terrestrial wholesale 4G data delivery system. The FCCs action followed a letter from the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) that found LightSquareds original and modified plans for its proposed mobile network would cause harmful interference to the nations GPS receivers. The Feb. 14 NTIA letter also noted that the Federal Aviation Administration had concluded that the LightSqared proposed data network would interfere with aviation safety-of-flight systems, and that no practical solutions or mitigations would be found over the course of the next few years.
Wayne Rash is a Senior Analyst for eWEEK Labs and runs the magazine's Washington Bureau. Prior to joining eWEEK as a Senior Writer on wireless technology, he was a Senior Contributing Editor and previously a Senior Analyst in the InfoWorld Test Center. He was also a reviewer for Federal Computer Week and Information Security Magazine. Previously, he ran the reviews and events departments at CMP's InternetWeek.He is a retired naval officer, a former principal at American Management Systems and a long-time columnist for Byte Magazine. He is a regular contributor to Plane & Pilot Magazine and The Washington Post.
