Recent tests have shown that LightSquared’s proposed grid of 40,000 wireless network ground stations could interfere with GPS signals, and now the FCC has granted LightSquared a two-week extension to file a report on its position. LightSquared’s report was originally due Wednesday, the same day the FCC granted the extension. LightSquared spokesman Jim Carlisle said Tuesday that the company underestimated the number of tests that would be necessary to show the network should be allowed. In a letter to the FCC, Carlisle wrote that additional testing “was necessary to permit a proper evaluation of various mitigation options for addressing the GPS receiver overload issue.” And that producing a report is really hard.
“Producing a final report is a massive undertaking,” Carlisle wrote, citing the multitude of factors involved in the process. The FCC responded by granting the company a new deadline of July 1. In response to the FCC’s decision, co-founder of the Coalition to Save our GPS and Vice President of Trimble Jim Kirkland described his understanding of the process, so far, saying, it’s “been a combination of really really bad ideas and slightly less bad ideas.” According to Kirkland, too much of the burden of proof has been placed on the companies that could be most affected by LightSquared’s network. Said Kirkland, “The FCC should let the private industry return to work and stop squandering resources to solve an unsolvable problem.”
