FCC Closes Proceedings on LightSquared's Rights, Decision Pending
Potential impact on precision agriculture will remain to be seen
Both comment and reply periods on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Proceeding Number 11-109 have closed, and the agency may render a decision at any time regarding LightSquared’s rights — or not — to interfere with the GPS signal from coast to coast. The company marked the closing of the reply period with a letter to the FCC claiming that GPS receivers do not comply with U.S. Department of Defense guidelines issued in 2008. Meanwhile, a key participant in FCC and GPS discussions with preceding holders of the LightSquared spectrum confirmed that recent statements by the current owners of rights to the Mobile Subscriber Service (MSS) band are “not an accurate perception” of the creation of an ancillary terrestrial component within the MSS space-to-earth band. Finally, the FCC has requested more specific and presumably more verifiable data on the number and lifespan of GPS receivers that will be interfered with, and the number of terrestrial base stations LightSquared plans to deploy.
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