NTIA: LIGHTSQUARED’S PLAN WILL IMPACT GPS
February 16, 2012
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced to the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday that LightSquared's plans to build a nationwide 4G broadband network will impact global positioning systems. NTIA said the latest round of testing showed there is "no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time."
For now, the proposal is dead despite the nearly $4 billion LightSquared has already invested in the project. This is good news for farmers, who would have benefitted from a national internet access system, but been negatively affected from an inability to use GPS systems.
"The announcement is a welcome one for our organization," NCGA President Garry Niemeyer said. "Expanded internet access is important to our members but not when it compromises the use of high-precision GPS equipment. We hope the NTIA's statement will help put this issue to rest once and for all."
The FCC will now propose that the conditional waiver, which was granted last year, be revoked. The waiver required LightSquared prove the interference problems could be fixed before moving forward.
Read more from the LA Times on this issue.