The US House of Representatives is reportedly planning to investigate the FCC over its handling of satellite/terrestrial venture LightSquared’s proposed service.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Subcommittee of Communications and Technology will…
The US House of Representatives is reportedly planning to investigate the FCC over its handling of satellite/terrestrial venture LightSquared’s proposed service.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Subcommittee of Communications and Technology will examine the issue at a hearing, with the date yet to be confirmed.
The chairman of the subcommittee, Representative Greg Walden, reportedly said that he did not understand the process that had allowed a company to buy spectrum and then find itself unable to use that spectrum because of interference concerns.
The FCC was not immediately available for comment.
A LightSquared spokesman described the news of the hearing as “very positive”.
The spokesman said that the hearing is expected to examine spectrum efficiency and receiver standards.
“This committee has jurisdiction over the FCC and has a strong background in spectrum,” he added.
LightSquared’s spectrum assets include 59MHz of nationwide, ubiquitous spectrum. This includes 40MHz of L Band spectrum for LTE, 6MHz of L band spectrum for satellite usage and 13MHz of “additional spectrum resources”.
In January, the FCC granted LightSquared conditional approval to build its terrestrial network using mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum, on the condition that it resolves concerns of interference of its technology with GPS devices.
The testing has been organised by a government panel, the Position, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee (PNT Excom).
In a letter on 13 January, the co-chairs of Excom said that the “unanimous conclusion” from the tests was that both LightSquared’s original and modified plans would cause “harmful interference” to many GPS receivers.
The FCC will make a decision on whether to approve LightSquared’s service after it has consulted with the NTIA, the president’s adviser on telecoms and information policy.
Last week, LightSquared said that it would “move forward to enforce [its] legal rights” if there is no resolution to its current dispute with the GPS industry.
Andrew Lipman, partner and head of the telecom group at Bingham McCutchen, said that litigation was not “an unreasonable outcome” given the situation, but suggested it would be premature at the moment, as the FCC is yet to make a decision.
If one bureau (or more than one) of the FCC decided not to approve LightSquared to operate its network, the venture could seek review of the bureau’s decision by the full commission. Alternatively, it could go to a US court of appeal.
However, Lipman said that an issue overhanging litigation in court would be that LightSquared, like any other spectrum licensee, does not have a property right on spectrum.
He said the FCC is given exclusive authority to enforce its regulations on spectrum and is given deference as an “expert agency” by the courts, especially in the area of policing spectrum.
