LightSquared Opponent Asks NPSTC to ‘Weigh in Heavily’ On Interference Concerns
Public safety officials should be very concerned about potential interference to their communications systems if LightSquared is authorized to launch its broadband service in the L-band, Jim Kirkland, general counsel of positioning vendor Trimble Navigation Limited, told a National Public Safety Telecom Council meeting Tuesday. Kirkland questioned whether the GPS interference tests under way at the behest of the FCC will provide any certainty interference isn’t a major concern.
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"We suggest that it’s time for the public safety community to weigh in and weigh in heavily on this issue,” Kirkland said. “Unfortunately, just in the last few days, we've realized that the gear that LightSquared is making available for tests isn’t really comparable in terms of technical characteristics to the gear that they will actually use,” Kirkland charged. Engineers for his company determined the gear supplied by LightSquared transmits at “about a fourth of the power” at which LightSquared is authorized to transmit, he said.
"You're looking at 40,000 terrestrial transmitters spread throughout the United States operating at up to 1,500 Watts,” Kirkland said. “We've known based on technical analysis that there’s going to be very substantial interference. We've made that case to the FCC.” Kirkland said the testing program mandated by the FCC has followed an “extremely accelerated” timetable and the FCC has been in too much of a hurry to move forward. “We know what the FCC is trying to do … bring in more broadband, free up more spectrum,” he said. “Those things shouldn’t come at the price of disrupting GPS.”
Harlin McEwen, longtime chairman of International Association of Chiefs of Police, said the group declined to join the Coalition to Save Our GPS, the main group opposing LightSquared’s proposal. IACP didn’t want to join the opposition, but is watching closely, McEwen said. “I fully agree with what you've said that we have to be involved,” he said. “We're very interested in it, we're very concerned.” NPSTC members meeting in Washington did not take a collective stand on LightSquared’s proposed network.
LightSquared Executive Vice President Jeff Carlisle, who also spoke to NPSTC, said he didn’t want to get into a debate with Kirkland, but some of his charges are not accurate. The base stations that LightSquared supplied for testing are the same that will be deployed as part of the LightSquared network, Carlisle said. LightSquared does not have base stations that would operate at the maximum authorized power levels, he said. “There is no imminent possibility” the company will deploy base stations above the levels being tested, he said.
"At the beginning of this process … there was a good amount of trepidation, was this going to be a LightSquared-dictated process and solution,” Carlisle said. “I think the general tenor of the discussion within the technical working group has been extremely constructive. There has been a lot of agreement in terms of methodologies and test samples and that has just really moved things along very quickly under a pretty difficult set of conditions.” Field testing is now under way, he said, noting that the Department of Defense, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration have each tested for potential interference.
NPSTC members expressed general concerns about an FCC proposal to allow the certification and use of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) equipment under Part 90 of its rules.
"I don’t care if TETRA is allowed to market products in the United States,” McEwen said. “I am absolutely opposed to us supporting TETRA in public safety bands … We've worked for 20 years to get interoperability through a P25 standard that is incompatible with TETRA."
Tom Sorley, deputy director of radio communication services with the city of Houston, said NPSTC members should also be concerned about utilities adopting TETRA. “Allowing TETRA to enter that market basically precludes us from ever having interoperability with them,” he said.