Articles about Lightsquared

This week, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that they have isolated 95 MHz of "prime" wireless spectrum that could be repurposed for mobile broadband uses.

The 1755–1850 MHz band was examined by NTIA as potentially viable for commercial wireless broadband services (.pdf here.) Currently, more than 20 federal agencies own more than 3,100 individual frequency assignments in this band. Their uses range from law enforcement surveillance, to military tactical communications, to unmanned aerial vehicles, to guided munitions.

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Friday, U.S. national wireless network operator Sprint announced that it has terminated its spectrum hosting agreement with experimental 4G network LightSquared on the grounds that the GPS interference issues associated with the wireless network have been declared unavoidable.

Sprint issued the following statement:

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LightSquared, the aspiring 4G wireless network built in the "L band" of spectrum has been under fire from the GPS industry for the last year over the interference the experimental network was shown to create for GPS receivers.

Due to the L-band's close proximity to frequencies used in satellite communications, about half of the frequencies LightSquared planned to use in its network were shown to cause interference on some GPS receivers.

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LightSquared is a still-under-construction wholesale 4G network that utilizes the "L band" for part of its communications infrastructure. This block of frequencies was formerly used in satellite communications, and was re-banded for mobile broadband use in the FCC's project to add 300MHz of spectrum to wireless data communications by 2015.

Due to the L-band's close proximity to frequencies used in satellite communications, about half of the frequencies LightSquared planned to use in its network were shown to cause interference on some GPS receivers.

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