LightSquared executive Jeffrey Carlisle defended his company's proposed national wireless spectrum program before Congress, allaying concerns over GPS problems.
Carlisle faced members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, who warned LightSquared would wreak havoc on countless GPS systems, causing floods, hurricanes, volcanoes and even train derailments, along with airline crashes and failed search-and-rescue missions.
The legislators had few supporting words for the LightSquared proposal, most of whom said they recognized the need for more wireless spectrum, but not one that may interfere with critical systems like airline navigation or their constituents' GPS devices.
LightSquared's proposed $9 billion plan, pending Federal Communications Commission approval, will build a national wireless spectrum "net" that cable and other clients could buy to offer their customers wireless service. Sprint is one of LightSquared's future partners.
Carlisle, armed with an updated proposal that would reduce the current plan's power levels and fund research for devices that wouldn't interfere with GPS, defended the amended plan amidst a rising chorus of objections.
Ranking committee member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D., Tex.) invoked the consensus that GPS now plays a critical role in public safety and government must take a balanced approach to promoting broadband networks like LightSquared, especially when their outstanding technical issues must be resolved.
Johnson said she does not expect the FCC will approve the service before LightSquared addresses outstanding concerns. LightSquared already modified its initial proposal once, saying it would use a swath of lower spectrum further from GPS and reduce power, though it also planned to eventually use upper spectrum pending the FCC's approval.
Carlisle stated his certainty of a solution, and hoped further study and testing would help prove both GPS and LightSquared's "net" can co-exist.
"This is an issue responsible receiver design," Carlisle said, "a technical issue that can be solved just as it is when anyone deploys a wireless network."
