Advisory Committee Maintains LightSquared Will Cause GPS Interference

The Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing national executive committee, which is made up of nine federal agencies that coordinate GPS issues, has concluded that LightSquared's proposed wireless network would significantly interfere with GPS devices.

Based on two rounds of tests by federal agencies and separate tests by the Federal Aviation Administration, the group said it had unanimously concluded that LightSquared's original and modified network plans "would cause harmful inference to many GPS receivers." LightSquared interference

"Based upon this testing and analysis, there appear to be no practical solutions or mitigations that would permit the LightSquared broadband service, as proposed, to operate in the next few months or years without significantly interfering with GPS," the group told the Commerce Department, which continues to study the interference claims. GPS receivers, rather than mobile phones, seem to be most affected. 

Some speculate that LightSquared faces little chance of gaining approval from Commerce Department officials or the Federal Communications Commission.