LightSquared may interfere with GPS

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AOPA Online: FCC ‘recklessly fast-tracked’ LightSquared waiver (http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2011/110608fcc_reckless_in_lightsquared_waiver.html?WT.mc_id=ebri ef)
Worth a read, have heard rumour of EU trials at some time:ugh:

With reports surfacing that LightSquared’s proposed broadband communications network negatively interferes with GPS, 66 members of Congress weighed in June 7, saying that the “FCC has recklessly fast-tracked the waiver process without undertaking appropriate review procedures.”

In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the members of Congress requested that the FCC “only approve LightSquared’s waiver if it can be indisputably proven that there will be no GPS interference.” They also acknowledged the commission’s call for a working group to investigate and report on the issue by June 15.

Congress, along with the aviation industry, believes the FCC should have required that the proposal be tested before granting a waiver instead of approving the waiver with a plan for later testing. LightSquared is proposing to use a satellite spectrum that is close to the one used for GPS.

The letter quoted Air Force Space Command Gen. William Shelton on the impact that is currently being observed in testing: “Within three to five miles on the ground and within twelve miles in the air, GPS is jammed by those towers… If we allow that system to be fielded and it does indeed jam GPS, think about the impact. We’re hopeful we can find a solution, but physics being physics, we don’t see a solution right now.

“LightSquared has got to prove that they can operate with GPS and we’re hoping the FCC does the right thing.”

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AVwebFlash Complete Issue (http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/1955-full.html#204974).

LS are just ploughing ahead hoping that by the time people wake up thy will be to far advanced for regulators to stop them.
Why should a private Co be allowed to put the public at risk? by degrading a strategic service of world wide importance.
IF LS are allowed how long before we see a European equivalent?

GPS A Side Issue In High-Stakes Broadband Battle
Although the FCC's rulemaking process is nowhere near finished on the LightSquared/GPS issue, LightSquared's multi-billion-dollar business plan appears to be unaffected by the nagging details of regulatory approval and the potential destruction of the GPS system. According to CNET, Sprint, Nextel and LightSquared are about to announce a blockbuster partnership that will allow Sprint to migrate its service to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) broadband service that LightSquared is offering and is apparently the next big thing in wireless. In exchange, LightSquared gets the use of the 40,000 cell towers (remember those 40,000 towers?) that Sprint already owns for a rental fee of about $2 billion a year. What's significant for those who care about GPS in all of this is that the interference that's been clearly demonstrated is a side issue in high-stakes intrigue that may alter the broadband services landscape considerably.

The broadband publications are abuzz with suggestions that hedge fund guru Philip Falcone's venture into the wireless business hasn't gone through normal channels and that the political impetus will make it hard to stop. According to Bloomberg Falcone was bragging about the deal to investors in his Harbinger Capital Partners fund that the deal was done on June 15. That was the date LightSquared was supposed to have submitted a report to the FCC regarding potential interference with GPS but instead asked for an extension. By early July, the report had been submitted and it was clear that interference was an issue but LightSquared answered in news releases that it would alter its plans to minimize GPS interference. Meanwhile, the FCC is taking comments on the LightSquared proposal.

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EUROPE FIGHTS LIGHTSQUARED (AVwebBiz Complete Issue (http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/bizav/1956-full.html#204992)) The European Commission has added its name to the long list of those opposed to LightSquared's plan to use satellite band frequencies for a ground network of broadband transmitters. The proposal, which is now before the Federal Communications Commission for comment, has been widely condemned by pro-GPS companies and organizations in the U.S. because it could disrupt GPS service. The European Commission is now officially worried the broadband signals will obliterate signals from its Galileo satellite-based navigation system, which will deploy in three years, and Heinz Zourek, the director general for enterprise and industry, says the signals may have an even greater impact on Galileo equipment than the interference being reported on GPS receivers. "Interference effects have been determined to occur in the range [of] 100 [meters] to almost 1,000 [kilometers]," Zourek said in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. AVwebBiz Complete Issue (http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/bizav/1956-full.html#204992)