Sat, Nov 19, 2011
Would Prohibit FCC From Spending Federal Funds To Deploy
Company's Technology
An amendment to a bill funding the FCC offered by Senator Pat
Roberts (R-KS) (pictured) would prohibit the commission from
spending federal funds to deploy LightSquared's 4G broadband
technology, until it can be proven the technology will not
interfere with existing GPS receivers.
The NBAA said on Friday that it welcomed the Roberts amendment
"There is too much at stake in interfering with a tool we all use,
and on which our public safety and national security depend so
heavily," said Roberts. "The FCC must be involved in this process,
and the commissioners must require an objective demonstration of
non-interference before LightSquared's system gets the go-ahead.
GPS is too important for any interference to be tolerated."
"The business aviation community thanks Senator Roberts for
introducing this important amendment," said NBAA President and CEO
Ed Bolen. "[NBAA] members are not opposed to the development and
deployment of new or improved technology systems like LightSquared
– as long as it is conclusively proven that it will not
result in radio interference with GPS systems or pose any threat to
the global aviation transportation system."
The amendment is expected to be offered for inclusion in the
Financial Services and Government Affairs Appropriations Bill now
before the Senate. That legislation mirrors a companion measure
approved by the House of Representatives earlier this year, and
comes amidst continually growing opposition to the conditional
waiver granted by the FCC earlier this year for LightSquared to
build 40,000 transmitters across the country for terrestrial
deployment of its proposed broadband wireless network.
The agency suspended that waiver after industry tests revealed
overwhelming evidence that LightSquared's network interfered with
weaker GPS signals on adjacent frequencies, and it is now
deliberating on its next move. The FCC's decision on whether to
reinstate the waiver could come by the end of November. Roberts'
amendment is the latest move by lawmakers to ensure the agency
preserves the GPS signal.
In early November, a letter sent by House Small Business
Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-6-MO) (pictured) and eight
other lawmakers implored FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to halt
further action in granting LightSquared's waiver, despite the
company's assertions the problem could be resolved for "99 percent
of the GPS users" by moving its signal to a frequency further away
from bandwidth used by GPS, or through deployment of signal filters
for new and existing receivers. Graves countered that
LightSquared's claims were "not an acceptable answer or solution
for general aviation."
Separately, with the clock ticking down on what could be the FCC's
final response to the LightSquared issue, the Coalition to Save our
GPS, of which NBAA is a member, recently issued a release marking
the one-year anniversary of the company's original petition to the
agency to allow deployment of a high-powered, ground-based wireless
network on bandwidth previously allocated for Mobile Satellite
Service (MSS) use. LightSquared filed for its waiver on November
18, 2010.
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