LightSquared Seeking Reallocation, Auction of NOAA-Used Spectrum To Make Up for GPS Buffer Zone

Now needing additional downlink spectrum for its terrestrial broadband network, LightSquared is asking the FCC for reallocation and auction of a slice of spectrum used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and for conditions on its spectrum license that would let LightSquared share it. By giving up 10 MHz of spectrum as part of an agreement with GPS companies, the LightSquared LTE network "cannot be deployed without access to alternative downlink spectrum" compatible with the company's L-band uplink bands, meaning the FCC needs to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for commercial sharing, it said in a filing to be posted Thursday in docket 12-340.

LightSquared, in a deal earlier this month with GPS company Garmin, said it would by year's end file a license modification application with the FCC that relinquishes any terrestrial use of 1545-1555 MHz, the slice of LightSquared download spectrum that neighbors the GPS band (see 1512090024). LightSquared reached roughly the same agreement with Deere earlier this month (see 1512080022). In that application Thursday, the satellite company said approval of the license conditions "will address the core concerns raised by the GPS industry and secure those benefits for all GPS parties." Neither Deere nor Garmin commented.

Auctioning the 1675-1680 MHz spectrum "would fulfill President Obama's long-stated goal of monetizing this particular spectrum for commercial use," LightSquared said. And in return for giving up the 1545-1555 MHz band to create a GPS buffer, LightSquared asked for a bidding credit for any 1675-1680 MHz band auction. NOAA didn't comment. The company had broached the idea of commercial wireless sharing of the NOAA-used band in November, weeks before it announced the agreements with the GPS companies (see 1511050044).

The aeronautics industry has raised concerns about possible interference to aviation GPS receivers from LightSquared's planned LTE network (see 1512180020). In its filing, LightSquared said the FCC should condition any license modification on power limitations that fall in line with Federal Aviation Administration Minimum Operating Performance Standards. Aeronautics industry companies and associations didn't comment. Along with relinquishing 10 MHz of spectrum, LightSquared under the proposed license modification would agree to modify the Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power limits on bands it will use and to make a variety of out-of-band-emission modifications.

LightSquared hopes the FCC puts the Deere and Garmin agreements out for public comment early in 2016, with LightSquared getting the approval of the 40 MHz of spectrum it needs for its LTE broadband system by year's end, LightSquared counsel Gerard Waldron of Covington and Burling told us Thursday. LightSquared in its filing said it is "confident that these modifications will address concerns of other GPS manufacturers, and we expect the comment process initiated by this filing going on public notice will confirm that." Any public notice also should seek comment on who uses the NOAA data feeds in the band and how they might be affected, LightSquared said. Such a public notice would also "provide an important signal ... to move promptly" to the Transportation Department, which is creating a test plan for studying interference between LightSquared's proposed wireless broadband network and GPS devices (see 1511130009), the company said. LightSquared-hired consultant Roberson put together its own interference test plan, the final version of which will be filed with the FCC in early 2016, LightSquared said in a separate filing Wednesday in docket 12-340.

LightSquared said it also will need to work with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to ensure the LTE technical specifications "reflect the correct balance between GPS and the terrestrial uses of the 1500-1700 MHz band on a global basis." But 3GPP time constraints mean the company would have to contact the standards-setting body in June for the spectrum to be in 3GPP's next release cycle, LightSquared said.