Wireless Company Works on Reducing GPS Risks

By Keith Perine, CQ Staff

A new wholesale wireless provider, under fire from critics worried about potential interference with Global Positioning System transmission, plans to unveil prototype equipment next week aimed at reducing the threat.

Lawmakers in both chambers are monitoring LightSquared’s efforts to develop a wholesale wireless network. Critics say that the new network could interfere with GPS transmissions in an adjacent part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Jeff Carlisle, a senior executive at the company, told reporters Wednesday that the company has been working with a “pre-eminent leader” in GPS technology on a “prototype precision device” that will work with LightSquared’s network.

“We are showing that the problem is solvable with not that long an investment in time and resources,” Carlisle said.

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces is scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday on GPS issues, featuring testimony from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and officials from the Defense and Commerce departments.

Carlisle said that any deficiencies in military equipment that uses GPS lie with manufacturers.

“We’re all kind of in the same boat here and have been put here by the GPS manufacturers,” Carlisle said.

The House Appropriations Committee added language to its draft fiscal 2012 spending measure for the FCC that would bar the use of funds for the commission to permit LightSquared to start operating its network until the agency resolves GPS-related concerns.