The FCC today called for more testing of Lightsquared (pdf). It was a mixed blessing. The agency could have given a green light to the satellite phone provider to deploy its terrestrial LTE network, or rejected their network proposal outright, due to mounting GPS interference concerns.
The FCC said complaints about possible interference with high-precision GPS devices made additional tests necessary. The action means that LightSquared may not get an answer from the FCC on whether it can turn on its proposed network until late December or early next year. Earlier this week the Commerce Department asked federal agencies involved in the testing to finish by November 30.
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration last Friday sent a letter to senior officials at the Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration, asking for the agencies to coordinate with LightSquared on further testing of technology for interference with GPS. NTIA head Lawrence Strickling asked for the tests to be complete by Nov. 30 and said a second round of tests would be necessary after that.
The NTIA proposed that a joint testing plan should be developed “as expediously as possible”. But the FCC has offered LightSquared absolutely nothing to indicate it would inclined to approve LightSquared’s terrestrial operations in the future, says satphone consultant Tim Fararr.
“Thus, LightSquared is now faced with a major funding crisis, because it seems there is no way it can survive with its current resources until it receives final approval to move forward (assuming that even happens).”
LightSquared received conditional approval from the FCC to build a nationwide 4G wireless network — provided it can be done without interfering with adjacent GPS signals. GPS World and Inside GNSS have more on the interference issue.
In other news, the FCC announced today the start of the first trial of a TV white spaces database.
White spaces are unused spectrum between TV stations and are considered prime real estate because signals in this band travel far and penetrate walls. The FCC says this spectrum will open the doors for new industries to arise, create American jobs, and spur new investment and innovation.
Commission rules require that unlicensed TV band devices contact an authorized database system to obtain a list of channels that are available for their operation (i.e., channels not occupied by authorized radio services) at their individual locations and must operate only on those channels.
The trial of the Spectrum Bridge database system is scheduled to last for 45 days, ending November 2, 2011. Parties may participate in the trial by accessing Spectrum Bridge’s TV band database test facility at http://whitespaces.spectrumbridge.com/Trial.aspx.
