F.C.C. Bars the Use of Airwaves for a Broadband Plan

[highplainsdem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/business/media/fcc-bars-airwave-use-for-broadband-plan.html

WASHINGTON — A proposed wireless broadband network that would provide voice and Internet service using airwaves once reserved for satellite-telephone transmissions should be shelved because it interferes with GPS technology, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday.

The F.C.C. statement revokes the conditional approval for the network given last year. It comes after an opinion by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which said that “there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time” with GPS devices. The telecommunications and information agency oversees telecommunications policy at the Commerce Department.

The news appears to squash the near-term hopes for the network pushed by LightSquared, a Virginia company that is majority-owned by Philip Falcone, a New York hedge fund manager.

-snip-

The F.C.C., which had granted a conditional approval to LightSquared to go ahead with its network pending the results of more testing, will now propose barring near-term deployment of the LightSquared system, the F.C.C. said. The commission will issue a request for public comment on the proposed action on Wednesday.

-snip-

[saras]

1. What's really annoying is the reason.

There isn't any TECHNICAL reason their program should interfere with GPS. But...

"Interference of LightSquared’s signals with GPS systems is a tricky issue for the F.C.C., telecommunications experts say, because the interference appears not to be the fault of LightSquared. The most commonly used GPS receivers tend to pick up signals from outside of the segment of spectrum designated for GPS."

The fact is that most currently existing GPS receivers are deliberately poorly and cheaply made, and unnecessarily subject to interference from normally functioning services.

What's at stake is the current system of marketing deliberate crap so that properly functioning equipment can command premium prices. If LightSquared went forward, all GPS receivers would have to be replaced with ones that properly rejected out-of-band signals, and since existing ones are clearly defective, it SHOULD be at the cost of the manufacturer, not the consumer.

The problem is that the FCC is, and has been since Reagan, unreasonably biased in the direction of 'maximum profit to the biggest capitalist' over 'maximum benefit to the public at large'.

[BiggJawn]

2. Frustrating, yes.

Like how Ham Radio operators had to curtail their operations and pissed-off all the neighbours, not because their transmitters were faulty, but because Zenith, RCA, Maggot-box, Marantz, etc. cut corners and left out 15 cents worth of bypass capacitors from their "top of the line" consumer junk.

Now everybody's on cable and listening to Mpgs so the interference is minimal.

[MicaelS]

3. GPS is far too important to safety in this country

To let another broadband company destroy it simply so, they, LightSquared can make money.

LightSquared didn't buy the spectrum from the government, they got it when the purchased the bankrupt assets of SkyTerra, a company who's business is in satellite communications. The licensed frequencies themselves are in part of the spectrum that is internationally recognized as being reserved for satellite communications and which the FCC has in the past stated that it would not allow a full terrestrial network to be built in and where Federal regulations forbid any interference from ground transmitters to other satellite users.

Federal body concludes LightSquared can't work with GPS

The PNT ExComm has been involved in testing and results analysis at the request of the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The body is headed by deputy secretaries of Defense and Transportation and represents other federal agencies and departments. It is charged with coordinating federal GPS activities.

Both the original and modified proposals by LightSquared would cause harmful interference to many GPS receivers, the PNT ExComm chairs said in the memo. The agency also said a Federal Aviation Administration analysis had concluded the network would be incompatible with aircraft safety systems.

[Paulie]

4. There is a technical reason

Instead of using the power levels for the space to ground spectrum they have licensed, they want to use the same frequency on the ground at like a billion times stronger signal. The spectrum was never intended for that. A GPS receiver is listening to micro watt signals from space, and right next to it is a billion times stronger signal.

More here: http://saveourgps.org/

Lightsquared has been a brat, hoping the FCC will bend and give them an equivalent amount of bandwidth in a more lucrative frequency band. With the FCC saying use the license as granted, maybe they will just go away.

[high density]

5. Doesn't any new GPS already have the proper filter?

One I bought last year says in the specs something like "receiver with hotfix." I assumed this meant it would coexist with LightSquared.

So if this is the case, I guess this plan will probably work a decade from now as the existing install base of flawed GPS receivers gets refreshed, but for the time being it seems the FCC has actually made the right decision. (Millions of GPS owners versus hedge fund manager.)