Thu, Dec 22, 2011
Filing Say GPS Receivers "Not Entitled To Interference
Protection"
LightSquared's latest tack in attempting to obtain a license to
build a 4G broadband data network which has been proven to
interfere with millions of deployed GPS receivers is to assert that
those receivers have no right to protection from interference.
The company filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling with the FCC
Tuesday that flatly states that the GPS industry "has manufactured,
and sold to unsuspecting consumers, unlicensed and poorly designed
GPS receivers that “listen” for radio signals both in
the “RNSS” frequency band in which the U.S. GPS system
is intended to operate, as well as across the adjacent
“MSS” frequency band that is not intended for GPS use,
and in which LightSquared is licensed.
"The commercial GPS industry claims, without justification, that
these GPS receivers somehow are entitled to
“protection” from the LightSquared authorized
operations that occur entirely within the MSS band. The GPS
industry also claims that LightSquared must alter its plans in
order to accommodate these commercial GPS receivers, and has
demanded that LightSquared abandon the use of large segments of the
MSS band in which LightSquared is licensed.
"It does not matter whether the Commission characterizes
commercial GPS receivers as unlicensed receive-only earth stations
that operate under Part 25 of the Commission’s rules, or as
unlicensed devices that operate under Part 15 of the
Commission’s rules. The relevant precedent under either
analysis reaches the same inescapable result: unlicensed commercial
GPS receivers simply are not entitled to interference protection
from LightSquared’s licensed operations in the MSS band."
The filing from LightSquared goes on to assert that it should
not be held accountable for the failure of the commercial GPS
industry to prepare for the eventual deployment of a service such
as it has proposed. The company also says that the GPS industry
should have anticipated the use of adjacent spectrum, and built
receivers that would have been compatible with that use. It says it
developed filters at its own expense in a short time that make that
possible, and the GPS industry should not be allowed to use that as
an argument.
LightSquared asks the FCC to declare that manufacturers and
users of "unlicensed" commercial GPS receivers lack standing to
file complaints or other pleadings seeking “protection”
from allegedly incompatible operations in adjacent MSS
bands—including ATC operations—that are permitted by
the Commission’s rules and the U. S. Table of Frequency
Allocations. It further wants the FCC to declare that there is no
independent right on the part of the receiver users for
"protection" from interference in the MSS band, and that those
receivers are "nonconforming" under FCC rules. Lastly, it asks that
the FCC declare that any cost associated with resolving the
interference issue be borne by the GPS industry.
The company asks that the commission rule "on an expedited basis
to ensure that consumers can benefit from the competitive retail
services to be offered over LightSquared’s network as soon as
possible."
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