FCC not to approve LightSquared's proposal to build 4G-LTE network
According to an e-mailed statement by Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s spokeswoman Tammy Sun, the FCC had decided against approving startup LightSquared's proposal to build a countrywide 4G-LTE network.
The US government's decision to break up with LightSquared is essentially an upshot of the results of a recent testing which showed that the startup's proposed wireless venture - of an open-access, wholesale wireless broadband network that combines satellite and terrestrial technology - disrupts navigation gear, since its signals interfere with global-positioning system.
Going by the statement by Sun, the FCC will withdraw the preliminary approval which it granted to LightSquared last year for building a high-speed network that would serve nearly 260 million people in the country. The agency has already indefinitely suspended the conditional waiver which it had given to LightSquared for operating its proposed network.
The FCC decision to disapprove the LightSquared proposal came close on the heels of the recent warning by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that the startup's proposed mobile broadband network will have an effect on GPS services and that there currently is "no practical way to mitigate the potential interference."
Noting that the FCC had "clearly stated from the outset that harmful interference to GPS would not be permitted," Sun said in the emailed statement: "The commission will not lift the prohibition on LightSquared."
