Ahuja Says FCC Will Approve 4G Broadband Rollout

In the ongoing battle between LightSquared and everyone who owns a GPS device, the company has gone on a public offensive, teasing the public with full-page ads in newspapers predicting its service will lead to broadband internet rates half what they are today.

Lightsquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja is also making the rounds of the interview circuit to assure consumers that the company's plan to move its debut to the lower portion of its allocated frequency band will resolve interference concerns for 99.5 percent of GPS users, and that the company will spend $150 million to solve the remaining half-percent.

In an interview with the New York Post, Ahuja predicts that following the completion of interference testing next month, the FCC will approve the rollout of the nationwide service, and that any problems can be solved. “I am absolutely confident the FCC will approve it," he says. “We think we will overcome this challenge by simply good engineering. These are engineering challenges that good engineers can work and resolve.”

LightSquared intends to sell its service wholesale, allowing retailers and manufacturers of wireless devices to build and sell products which use the service. The largest partner to commit so far has been Best Buy, which will bundle the service with products sold through its stores.

FMI: www.lightsquared.com