Mr. Sanjiv Ahuja, CEO of LightSquared, posted to The Hill's Congress Blog back on 01 June.
Take a few minutes to read the comments in response to his piece - pretty high signal-to-noise ratio there IMHO.
Requesting pardon in advance if this should be under P&R. Also if this has been mentioned here earlier - I saw what appeared to be the names of some SurveyorConnect posters in the comments, but my search of this forum ("The Hill" and "Ahuja") did not find anything.
GB
LightSquared certainly has several things going for them, which are clearly seen by the FCC and the politicians -
1. The National Broadband Plan calls for increased wireless broadband services, and LightSquared is boldly endeavoring to provide that.
2. With AT&T now attempting to take over T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel faltering, there is a real chance of the wireless-broadband market becoming a (possibly abusive) duopoly of AT&T and Verizon.
3. LightSquared's wholesale model has a big appeal because it allows other businesses with different business plans to share the spectrum. LS is making much fuss over their possible resellers and their multi-billion contracts, including Best Buy, Open Range, Sprint, etc.
4. The Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) spectrum is not being used very much after many years of opportunity and many bankruptcies and failures. If the National Broadband Plan wants to dedicate another 500 MHz to wireless broadband, it is pretty obvious that quite a bit of that will have to come from MSS. By launching their satellite, LightSquared has secured a foothold in that spectrum.
5. The JOBS JOBS JOBS drumbeat.
Gavin - good job on the ACSM presentation yesterday. I liked your point that access to broadband does not automatically translate to economic value and prosperity when the bandwidth is used for YouTube and BitTorrent. Hope I did not miscontrue that.
GB
LightSquared Frequencies Are For Satellite Use
If they don't want to build a satellite network they can buy other frequencies that are not designated for satellite use. They in fact have not paid market value for the land based use that they propose.
Cough up fair value or go home!
Paul in PA
Not with a "suitably flexible FCC" -
The National Legal and Policy Center (the folks who exposed the Boeing midair-refueling-tankers-for-lease scandal a few years ago) has requested the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to take a look at the details surrounding the FCC waiver that may allow using the Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) loophole and making this a terrestrial-for-all-practical-purposes network.
Somehow (and how could it be for less than $100k in political contributions - LightSquared likely pays more than that every day for their stable of high-dollar Washington lawyers and spinmeisters) the FCC determined that LightSquared is "unique" and the ATC loophole will not be available to other holders of MSS spectrum. So only LightSquared gets free terrestrial spectrum while the competitors paid billions for theirs.
GB
Does anyone happen to know if states can ban the ground bases transmitters from being installed? In Florida, for example, the FDOT could make the case that they have invested a crap load of tax payer money in the RTK network, and this could disable it. Maybe the state legislature is the next battle ground?
Kay Bailey Hutchinson claims to be the ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee that can rewrite federal communication law.
The Federal Government (FCC) maintains the management (and enforcement) of the radio spectrum band plan and coordination with International community; it is not within the purview of a State authority (or any lower level of government) to make ruling on radio spectrum related activities. Unless it's a homeowner association and you're an amateur radio operator 🙁 The FCC, much like the FAA, FDA, FBI, etc., exist to provide specific oversight. While certainly committees are likely able to exert influence over these agencies, it is unlikely (unlawful?) that direct changes can be made to FCC (telecommunications) Regulations without support from within the FCC.
http://www.gim-international.com/news/id5874-US_Halts_LightSquared_Funding.htmlbr >
I'd call this exerting influence 😉
ENR Article
Here is a link to an article in Engineering News Record online:
New Coalition to Save Our GPS members -
New Coalition to Save Our GPS members announced on 28 June 2011. (bold added by this writer):
AGCO, Agricultural Retailers Association, Air Line Pilots Association Intl., American Petroleum Institute, Associated General Contractors of America, Association of American Geographers, Association of American Railroads, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, FedEx, California Land Surveyors Association, California Space Authority, Inside GNSS, GrowMark, Magellan GPS, National Agricultural Aviation Association, National Cotton Council of America, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, New York City Fire Department, New World Systems, North American Equipment Dealers Association, Reinke Manufacturing Company and USA Rice Federation.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is already a member. Now we need all state DoTs as well. That would add considerable political clout.
GB
I emailed an old classmate who works for FDOT survey, and he said he was part of a team that was testing the interference at survey-grade levels and FDOT will submit a report on what they find. Just FYI, it seems like some state departments are getting involved.
