GPS Coalition Plays Offense Against LightSquared

With fresh evidence that LightSquared’s proposed wireless broadband network will cause widespread interference to GPS signal reception, principals of the industry Coalition to Save Our GPS went on the offensive today in a media conference call. Jim Kirkland, Trimble vice president and general counsel, said LightSquared’s attempts to shift to alternative proposals–the company has submitted a modified spectrum plan to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)–“raise serious issues as to LightSquared’s credibility or at a minimum its technical acumen to be able to evaluate the consequences of its proposed operations.” Craig Spence, AOPA’s vice president of operations and international affairs, said his organization is renewing a call it made during testimony before Congress last week for a congressional investigation of “how we got into a situation where such a national treasure is threatened.” The coalition members responded to a report issued Thursday by an FCC Technical Working Group finding that all GPS applications would experience significant interference from LightSquared signals and that no satisfactory fixes currently exist.