LightSquared Declaratory Ruling Request Now Moot, Says Deere

LightSquared’s failure to satisfy the FCC’s requirements for the company to begin terrestrial service makes LightSquared’s request for a declaratory ruling moot, said Deere in comments at the FCC on the request (http://xrl.us/bmwc3o). LightSquared asked the agency to issue a declaratory ruling spelling out the legal protections afforded to GPS. That request was made before the FCC proposed to pull LightSquared’s terrestrial authorization, which means it’s unnecessary for the FCC to take up the issue, said Deere. Other filers urged the FCC to wait for a Comptroller General receivers report before taking on receiver standards.

The petition is a “challenge to the terms” of the conditional mobile satellite service waiver the FCC granted LightSquared, said Deere. The LightSquared request should be considered “an inappropriate request” for the FCC to disregard specific federal statutes that prohibit the Commission from allowing LightSquared to operate a service that interferes with GPS, said Deere. LightSquared wants the FCC to apply “sweeping changes” to its rules and policies though a declaratory ruling, the company said.

Declaratory rulings should be used to address gray areas, not impose new or different requirements, said the U.S. GPS Industry Council (http://xrl.us/bmwc6r). Just as is the case for TV receivers or satellite TV dishes, it isn’t necessary that GPS receivers be licensed in order to receiver protections, said the USGIC. LightSquared’s efforts to use MSS spectrum terrestrially -- a “non-conforming use” not provided for in international allocation tables -- mean under U.S. and international law it must not cause harmful interference or claim protection from interference, the council said. “LightSquared now seeks, after the fact, to be relieved of its harmful interference avoidance obligations,” it said.

The FCC frequently takes action to protect unlicensed devices, said the Coalition to Save Our GPS (http://xrl.us/bmwc7q). The FCC clearly seeks to protect GPS receivers, requiring LightSquared in the conditional waiver to resolve any interference before beginning service, something LightSquared didn’t object to at the time, said the coalition.

The 2012 Appropriations Act, which prevented the FCC from using funds to lift the conditions on LightSquared until interference issues were resolved, doesn’t address the need for a declaratory ruling on the issue, said LightSquared (http://xrl.us/bmwc8v). LightSquared’s focus in the filing was on the FCC’s discussion of the legislation within the public notice on the request for declaratory ruling. That law “has no effect on the governing legal framework that the Commission has developed” to resolve interference issues, said LightSquared.

T-Mobile said it supports getting more MSS spectrum online for broadband, but has concerns about protecting its E-911 capabilities, which depend on GPS. “As the FCC has noted, the wireless industry continues to experience a marked shift from voice to data, as consumers have dramatically increased their use of mobile data services and applications, and their adoption of data-centric devices,” T-Mobile said. But protecting GPS is also critical, the filing said (http://xrl.us/bmwb62). “GPS is used to synchronize timing as a backup synchronization solution for T-Mobile’s backhaul network,” the carrier said. “Many of T-Mobile’s handsets also contain GPS receivers, which are used in locating a caller dialing 911 and to provide other valuable location-based services, such as navigation. Finally, T-Mobile relies upon GPS for its network-based U-TDOA E911 location system. In this system, designed to locate wireless callers making emergency 911 calls, Location Measurement Units (LMUs) are critical components typically co-located with cellular base stations."

CTIA said the fight over LightSquared points to the need to “address receiver performance to maximize spectral efficiency and prevent harmful interference into licensed services.” CTIA said the spectrum provisions approved as part of the payroll tax cut extension bill already require the Comptroller General to prepare a report on receiver performance “as it relates to increasing spectral efficiency.” An FCC workshop has been scheduled on receiver standards and a House Communications Subcommittee hearing is likely, CTIA said (http://xrl.us/bmwb8h). “While CTIA has previously demonstrated that the Commission’s ATC rules have always placed full responsibility for interference mitigation on the MSS/ATC licensees, CTIA also believes that this is an issue that can and should be investigated by subject matter experts from industry and government."

CEA said the FCC should take no further action on LightSquared until the Comptroller General’s report is finalized next February. “The Commission should suspend action in the instant proceeding until the Commission and the public have had an opportunity to consider the Comptroller’s findings,” CEA said (http://xrl.us/bmwb77). Each of the issues to be examined in the report “relates directly to the Petition’s core issue of whether and how the Commission should address GPS receiver performance as it impacts LightSquared’s planned terrestrial operations in the adjacent Mobile Satellite Service ... band."

The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council said testing already done by the GPS Technical Working Group and NTIA has not alleviated its concerns that LightSquared’s proposed operations would interfere with public safety’s use of GPS. “GPS is used for wireless 911 location, support of dispatch operations, mapping/response directions to responders, and synchronization of simulcast systems across the country,” NPSTC said (http://xrl.us/bmwb93). “NPSTC’s goal in this proceeding has been and continues to be straightforward -- to ensure that interference does not result to public safety related use of GPS.”