[Satellite News 09-14-11] The launch of LightSquared’s L-band terrestrial and satellite 4G LTE network will be delayed after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a public notice Sept. 13 prohibiting LightSquared to commence ATC operations until the commission, in consultation with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) finds that the network’s GPS interference issues have resolved.

   The FCC notice supports a recent request made by the U.S. Department of Commerce for further testing of LightSquared’s proposed broadband network and its impact on global positioning systems.

   “Following extensive comments received as a result of the technical working group process required by the International Bureau’s Order and Authorization dated Jan. 26, 2011, the FCC, in consultation with NTIA, has determined that additional targeted testing is needed to ensure that any potential commercial terrestrial services offered by LightSquared will not cause harmful interference to GPS operations,” the FCC said in the notice.

   LightSquared has been steeped in controversy since the launch of the Skyterra 1 satellite last year. A coalition of service providers, GPS manufacturers and end-users have launched an aggressive opposition campaign against the deployment of Liapproximately 40,000 planned terrestrial repeaters after reports were published claiming that the network could interfere with neighboring GPS signal frequencies. LightSquared, which in late July announced a 15-year, $13.5 billion deal with wireless carrier Sprint-Nextel to build and operate its terrestrial network, could find its business plan in jeopardy if its launch continues to be pushed back.

   LightSquared expected regulatory approval this month after a revised operational plan was submitted to the FCC in June in response to test results indicating one of LightSquared’s 10-megahertz (MHz) frequency blocks as an interference threat to GPS receivers. LightSquared told the FCC it entered negotiations with MSS operator Inmarsat to accelerate the schedule for the company to begin using Inmarsat L-band block frequencies. LightSquared said its own research determined that the lower 10 MHz block of the spectrum would not create interference risks as it is located farther away from the GPS frequencies. The company also offered to launch the terrestrial segment of its operation at significantly reduced power.

   The FCC, however, said it wasn’t convinced that LightSquared’s compromise was satisfactory in resolving the issues “The results thus far from the testing using the lower 10 MHz showed significant improvement compared to tests of the upper 10 MHz, although there continue to be interference concerns, e.g., with certain types of high-precision GPS receivers, including devices used in national security and aviation applications. Additional tests are therefore necessary,” the FCC said in the recent notice.

   Via Satellite Columnist Owen Kurtin said he believes the FCC has nowhere further to go in trying to smooth the road in front of LightSquared. “The FCC’s steady retreat on ATC requirements — granting a waiver to LightSquared in January to permit terrestrial-only service in diametrical opposition to the basis on which LightSquared’s ATC license was granted — has gone to the point of questioning whether it was the terrestrial component or the satellite component that was still ancillary. The FCC cannot go much farther in its support without clear evidence that the interference problems can be not only substantially, but also completely addressed,” said Kurtin.

   LightSquared filed a grievance with the FCC in early August, claiming that the GPS industry failed to comply with the U.S. Department of Defense’s filtering standards, which created the root cause of its potential GPS signal interference issues. LightSquared Executive Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy Jeffrey Carlisle wrote in the letter that the GPS industry ignored the Pentagon’s September 2008 GPS Positioning Service Performance Standard, which called for GPS receivers to filter out transmissions from adjacent bands in order to achieve its intended performance requirements.

   “Had the GPS industry complied with Pentagon’s recommended filtering standards for GPS receivers, there would be no issue with LightSquared’s operations in the lower portion of its downlink band,” Carlisle said in the filing. “In addition to ignoring the Department of Defense standard, the GPS industry also has spurned international recommendations for GPS receiver design. Since 2000, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has cautioned that a more stringent pre-correlator filter may be needed to protect GPS receiver operations from adjacent band RF emissions.”

    Last week, a letter written by the NTIA’s Lawrence Strickling to the U.S. Departments of Defense and Transportation was published, which showed the NTIA urging the departments to commence joint testing with LightSquared on its revised operational plan and complete the initiative by the end of the year.

   “[LightSquared] is undertaking to procure the design and manufacture of a filter to mitigate these unacceptable impacts,” Strickling wrote in the letter. “Given this commitment, we see no reason for any further testing of high-precision receivers until LightSqured presents its filtering solution to the federal agencies for testing and evaluation. At that time, the federal agencies will need to develop and execute a plan to test and analyze LightSquared’s proposed mitigation.”