GPS industry is to blame for interference with LTE signal says LightSquared

One day before a deadline to file a report with the FCC, LightSquared handed over its findings to the Feds. In its report, LightSquared said the blame for the interference to GPS signals that comes from its LTE service belongs to the GPS manufacturers. In the report, the GPS companies are blamed for using spectrum over the last eight years that has already been awarded to other users. The report goes on to say that the GPS manufacturers are not interested in compromising or finding a solution and instead are demanding to the government that LightSquared be blocked from using its own spectrum to provide service.

According to LightSquared, GPS manufacturers could have prevented this problem by adding a 5 cent filter to their products. The GPS industry has complained that LightSquared's terrestrial network, using the L-Band spectrum that the FCC is allowing the latter firm to use, is at fault. This is a rather pricey economic matter that needs to be worked out as LightSquared claims that its service of providing wholesale wireless broadband will save consumers as much as $120 billion. The company has recently signed a contract with mobile carrier Sprint and has worked out deals to allow other firms like NetTalk and Best Buy to use its LTE pipelines to attract customers for discount cellular service.

As we reported, LightSquared has proposed a solution to the FCC that they claim will remove 99.5% of the problem. The company proposes using a lower block of spectrum and a reduction in the power output of its towers, and says that it still requires the cooperation of the GPS companies to move forward. While this might help solve one problem, like the little boy who plugs the leaky dam with one finger while a new leak starts gushing, LightSquared still needs to deal with complaints about interference from the Department of Defense and the FAA.

source: LightSquared via Phonescoop