Globalstar Lobbying FCC Commissioners on TLPS Plans

Globalstar took its case for its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) to the FCC's eighth floor, with a series of meetings with commissioners and their staff in recent days, said an ex parte filing Wednesday in docket 13-213. The filing recapped talks between Globalstar General Counsel Barbee Ponder and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O'Rielly and with aides to commissioners Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn. The company said it discussed its "continuing commitment to the success of its mobile satellite service," pointing to the deployment this year of its second-generation ground network. It also said it discussed TLPS public interest benefits as it helps ease congestion "diminishing the quality of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi service at high-traffic 802.11 hotspots and other locations." Pointing to TLPS being a "good neighbor" to licensed and unlicensed services, Globalstar said "the evidence of benefits and compatibility ... substantially outweigh the theoretical concerns raised by competitors," and interference detection and mitigation techniques will be part of TLPS. It criticized Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) for not giving it or the FCC data from its demonstration supposedly showing TLPS interference to Bluetooth devices (see 1503130015), calling that "telling." Bluetooth SIG didn't comment Thursday. Globalstar said it supports a staged TLPS deployment since that would allow gradual expansion of operations "while providing extra safeguards to existing licensed and unlicensed services." FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has circulated a TLPS report and order that would do that (see 1605130059 and 1605200022).