FCC's Ligado Approval 'Troubling,' Garmin Says

The FCC's Ligado order (see 2004200011) leans heavily on so-called "co-existence agreements" between the company and GPS manufacturers, but Garmin never signed such an agreement, just a technical agreement in 2015 to settle litigation brought by Ligado, Garmin said in a docket 11-109 posting Monday. That settlement doesn't endorse Ligado's proposal, and Garmin doesn't endorse Ligado's license modification applications, it said. "The FCC’s apparent peremptory dismissal of ... well-documented concerns [such as possible interference to certified aviation devices] is troubling," as is rejection of the 1 dB noise floor standard for gauging harmful interference, Garmin said. Ligado emailed that “over two years ago, the FAA established the parameters to protect certified aviation; those exact parameters were adopted in the FCC’s order. Ligado trusts that the FCC and the FAA got it right, and stands ready to implement pursuant to the conditions of the Order. This appears to be another attempt to persuade anyone that’s still listening that 1 dB is an internationally accepted standard -- it’s not -- and it is not the way anyone has ever measured harmful interference from operations in spectrum that is 23 MHz away. Just because they keep saying it, does not make it a fact.”