Pervasip Corp (PVSP)

[Mason Ainsworth]

New Twist with LightSquared & GPS Coexistence

I woke to see these two articles. I really liked the Forbes article as it speaks to the GPS Coalition's motivations, and include only that paragraph.

However, the Politico piece is priceless for pointing out the potential collusion between DoD, PNT, and the GPS Coalition.

Time will tell how this unfolds. Hopefully, the FCC will support LightSquared's December 20, 2011 request to support its legal rights and disallow legal protection to the GPS Coalition's members defective receivers. Billions in liability to consumers as well as LightSquared would likely change the game.


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LightSquared Battle Heats Up As Politico Reveals DoD E-Mail
Daniel Fisher, Forbes Staff
3/02/2012 @ 2:10PM

"Politico reports that an unnamed Defense Dept. official urged his colleagues to “synch up” with the GPS industry back in 2010 to defeat LightSquared’s proposed cellular communications network. The e-mail, if authentic, would bolster LightSquared’s claim that it was the victim of a coordinated attack by government insiders and the GPS industry, which could face billions of dollars in liability for selling receivers that cannot filter out emissions from LightSquared’s neighboring radio frequencies."


On LightSquared, Defense Department official urged synch up with GPS lobby
By ELIZA KRIGMAN | Politico Staff
3/2/12 9:33 AM EST

A Department of Defense official urged his colleagues in 2010 to "synch up" with the GPS industry in order to defeat LightSquared's plans to build the nation's first wholesale broadband network, according to an email obtained by POLITICO.

The email came as the Global Positioning System Industry Council was preparing to brief NTIA — the White House technical advisers — on LightSquared's proposal.

"We need to synch up with them prior to them briefing NTIA to make sure we are in lock step," the DoD official wrote to colleagues in the Dec. 29, 2010, email. He added: "Especially since they are our allies."

A spectrum expert close to the situation leaked the emails to POLITICO.

LightSquared has argued that it was treated unfairly in the testing process, and the email is sure to provide the company new ammunition.

The DoD official who wrote the email declined to comment after being told POLITICO had a copy. A representative for the DoD also declined to comment.

However, another Defense source told POLITICO that “several people on [DoD] staff … made common cause with the GPS industry” and compared notes in opposition to LightSquared. The source now says that DoD’s involvement “was a huge mistake.

The source said that the DoD doesn’t manage the “user equipment piece” of the GPS system and it wasn’t really their place to insert themselves in the process this way.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders on Tuesday asked for a trove of government documents, as part of that committee’s review of LightSquared’s conflict with the GPS industry. The lawmakers asked for all written and electronic communications about LightSquared from the FCC, NTIA and the interagency National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT EXCOM).

LightSquared’s dream of launching a wholesale broadband network was blocked by the FCC and NTIA in February after concluding that GPS interference issues leave the company no viable path forward.

In addition to the correspondence between DoD officials, other emails from government officials involving LightSquared indicate that at least one NTIA official believed LightSquared had a valid argument that the GPS industry was at fault because it waited years before raising concerns about interference.

GPS companies maintain that LightSquared is at fault for trying to deploy a technology that’s inherently incompatible with GPS. LightSquared points fingers at the GPS industry for making cheap equipment that can’t block out noise from neighboring bands of airwaves.

A spokesman for Trimble, one of the nation’s largest GPS manufacturer and a leading force behind a coalition formed to fight LightSquared, the Coalition to Save Our GPS, dismissed the emails as “baseless claims about the process” from LightSquared.

"LightSquared was afforded a full year to demonstrate that its proposal to repurpose mobile satellite service spectrum would not create interference to GPS. Having failed to meet the FCC's conditions, it is now making baseless claims about process,” said Jim Kirkland, vice president of Trimble. “LightSquared's suggestion that this somehow represents a conspiracy are pure self-serving nonsense."

The GPS Industry Council has strong ties to Trimble. For example, Charles Trimble, co-founder of the company, is the chairman of the GPS Industry Council. Trimble no longer leads the company he helped found, but he serves on the PNT EXCOM, which advises and coordinates federal departments and agencies on matters related to GPS.

The PNT EXCOM, co-chaired by DoD and DOT, dealt a serious blow to LightSquared’s chances of success with a letter in January to NTIA concluding, based upon testing, that “there appear to be no practical solutions or mitigations” that would enable the wireless company to proceed in the next couple of months or years without “significantly interfering with GPS.”

LightSquared has continued to claim that it will work toward a technical solution, but most analysts argue that the company’s quest may be at an end — or is likely to be tied up in litigation for years.

“LightSquared has always asked for nothing more than a fair evaluation of the issues, but these troubling emails appear to indicate that this may not have been the intention of everyone and raise significant questions about the testing process,” said Terry Neal, a spokesman for the company. “We sincerely hope that is not the case and that the FCC takes note of this as it conducts its evaluation and assesses next steps."