Filing Say GPS Receivers "Not Entitled To Interference Protection"

LightSquared's latest tack in attempting to obtain a license to build a 4G broadband data network which has been proven to interfere with millions of deployed GPS receivers is to assert that those receivers have no right to protection from interference.

The company filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling with the FCC Tuesday that flatly states that the GPS industry "has manufactured, and sold to unsuspecting consumers, unlicensed and poorly designed GPS receivers that “listen” for radio signals both in the “RNSS” frequency band in which the U.S. GPS system is intended to operate, as well as across the adjacent “MSS” frequency band that is not intended for GPS use, and in which LightSquared is licensed.

"The commercial GPS industry claims, without justification, that these GPS receivers somehow are entitled to “protection” from the LightSquared authorized operations that occur entirely within the MSS band. The GPS industry also claims that LightSquared must alter its plans in order to accommodate these commercial GPS receivers, and has demanded that LightSquared abandon the use of large segments of the MSS band in which LightSquared is licensed.

"It does not matter whether the Commission characterizes commercial GPS receivers as unlicensed receive-only earth stations that operate under Part 25 of the Commission’s rules, or as unlicensed devices that operate under Part 15 of the Commission’s rules. The relevant precedent under either analysis reaches the same inescapable result: unlicensed commercial GPS receivers simply are not entitled to interference protection from LightSquared’s licensed operations in the MSS band."

The filing from LightSquared goes on to assert that it should not be held accountable for the failure of the commercial GPS industry to prepare for the eventual deployment of a service such as it has proposed. The company also says that the GPS industry should have anticipated the use of adjacent spectrum, and built receivers that would have been compatible with that use. It says it developed filters at its own expense in a short time that make that possible, and the GPS industry should not be allowed to use that as an argument.

LightSquared asks the FCC to declare that manufacturers and users of "unlicensed" commercial GPS receivers lack standing to file complaints or other pleadings seeking “protection” from allegedly incompatible operations in adjacent MSS bands—including ATC operations—that are permitted by the Commission’s rules and the U. S. Table of Frequency Allocations. It further wants the FCC to declare that there is no independent right on the part of the receiver users for "protection" from interference in the MSS band, and that those receivers are "nonconforming" under FCC rules. Lastly, it asks that the FCC declare that any cost associated with resolving the interference issue be borne by the GPS industry.

The company asks that the commission rule "on an expedited basis to ensure that consumers can benefit from the competitive retail services to be offered over LightSquared’s network as soon as possible."

FMI: Lightsquared Document