Reston, Va. – LightSquared has denied a press
report that said test results in the hands of a government agency found the
company’s proposed 4G LTE network would disrupt most GPS receivers in
cellphones, car navigation systems, and other consumer-oriented devices used for
marine and outdoor recreation activities.
The report by the Wall Street
Journal cited a congressional aide who had seen the report, which was
1 to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA). The agency is expected to issue its conclusions based on the report in
the coming weeks.
The NTIA will also review the results of
planned tests of potential LightSquared interference on high-precision GPS
devices used in aviation, agriculture, construction, engineering, surveying,
disaster monitoring and government applications.
LightSquared contended the
report’s contention was based on incomplete information.
“We are confident that a complete review of
all the government data by respected industry experts will demonstrate that the
overwhelming majority of devices tested exceeded the established standards and
support LightSquared’s network,” said LightSquared executive VP Martin
Harriman.
“The statement that testing shows
that most GPS devices would be disrupted by LightSquared’s operation is
patently false,” he continued. “There is no way that such a conclusion could be
drawn without deliberately ignoring a critical element in LightSquared’s
mitigation proposal to manage the power from its network that GPS devices will
be able to receive. By ignoring this commitment by LightSquared, this
conclusion is erroneously based on estimated power levels that are up to 15
times the levels guaranteed by LightSquared.”
The NTIA, “not the leakers of
this raw data, will make the final determination about how many devices passed
or failed. And that assessment has not yet been made,” he contended.
He also called on the government
to investigate the disclosure of raw data “to ensure the credibility of the
process is not damaged.”
