06.14.11
Posted in Financials, LightSquared, Operators, Regulatory, Spectrum, TerreStar at 9:35 am by timfarrar
In a recent Vanity Fair profile, Phil Falcone was summed up by a rival fund manager as “A roll-the-dice, put-everything-on-red kind of guy”. However, with the report on GPS interference coming up tomorrow, it also appears that the GPS industry is united in putting all their efforts into pushing the emergency stop button on LightSquared. Particularly significant is the decision of the PNT Advisory Board last week to file comments with the FCC:
The formal recommendation reads: “The PNT Advisory Board recommends the PNT Executive Committee (EXCOM) should file formal comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the interference issues.
“1. Based upon information and test results provided to the PNT Advisory Board at the meeting of June 8-10, 2011, the provision of GPS services cannot be assured if the LightSquared proposal for satellite and terrestrial broadband provision using the MSS L-Band receives final approval.
“2. The only reasonable and viable option to continue ubiquitous availability of GPS and the provision of a new 4G wireless broadband capability would be for the FCC to assign an alternate frequency spectrum to LightSquared that has little or no probability of affecting the delivery or utilization of GPS/GNSS services.”
The recently passed House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would block the FCC from authorizing LightSquared operations until GPS interference concerns have been resolved. Thus, if the GPS community continues to receive strong Congressional backing, it may become impossible for the FCC to authorize commercial operation of LightSquared’s planned terrestrial network, whatever LightSquared decides to recommend in its June 15 report (note that this report will undoubtedly not have any meaningful consensus recommendations about how to proceed). Of course it is implausible that the FCC would simply assign “alternate frequency spectrum” to LightSquared, and the other spectrum controlled by LightSquared (8MHz in the 1.4GHz band, leased from TerreStar Corporation, and 5MHz in the 1670-75MHz band) is unlikely to be usable for a large scale mobile LTE buildout.
As a result, LightSquared and the FCC both face a dilemma about how to move forward. Perhaps Harbinger could partner with the first lien debt holders (other than Echostar) (or even partner once again with MetroPCS and Solus) to make a run at TerreStar Networks, similar to its efforts in the DBSD bankruptcy auction back in March. Although providing LightSquared with a waiver of the ATC rules in the 2GHz band might be one option for the FCC, that would not solve LightSquared’s funding problem, and more likely would exacerbate it, because LightSquared would potentially then have to lease TerreStar’s 2GHz MSS spectrum from the consortium buying the assets out of bankruptcy. Granting TerreStar a waiver of the ATC gating criteria would also potentially disrupt the FCC’s current consultation process, which seeks to persuade DBSD and TerreStar to give up their spectrum for incentive auctions. Even more problematically, a decision to use TerreStar’s spectrum initially might give the Congress the excuse they are looking for to completely prohibit LightSquared from using the L-band for future terrestrial operations, as the GPS industry is requesting.
As I noted a few days ago, Harbinger therefore needs to announce something big to turn around perceptions of LightSquared. At this point, some sort of deal with Sprint (with Sprint expressing confidence that the interference issues are manageable) appears to be the best option with a chance of achieving that, with a potential partnership with MetroPCS and Solus to bid for TerreStar a rather less attractive backup choice.
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06.13.11
Posted in General, Regulatory, Spectrum at 10:31 am by timfarrar
If the paradigm shift for the telecom industry in the 1990s was the Death of Distance and in the 2000s was Cutting the Cord, then what might the new paradigm be for the next decade? I’d venture to suggest that one of the most important trends will be data offloading from mobile to fixed networks. As a result, you will need that fixed wire (or cable or fiber) into your home more in a decade’s time than you do today.
The simple reason for this is that the cost of data delivery on a fixed network (at around 2-5 cents per Gbyte) is nearly two orders of magnitude lower than on wireless networks. Similarly, monthly usage per subscriber, despite dramatic increases in wireless usage over the last few years, is also about 100 times greater on wireline networks (15Gbytes per month compared to a few hundred Mbytes on wireless). This ratio is unlikely to change significantly over the next decade, given expected improvements in both wireline and wireless technologies.
What that means is if you want to watch streaming video on your tablet or smartphone, you will be very strongly incentivized (by price) to offload that traffic to a WiFi hotspot and onto a wireline network. For example, at ~2Gbyte per hour for streaming HD video (at 4-5Mbps) to a tablet, you would have to pay $20 per hour at current wireless prices of $10/Gbyte. Even in 5 years time the price will undoubtedly be dollars per hour, not pennies per hour. Unsurprisingly, consumers are already taking these pricing signals onboard and turning to WiFi. However, the impact of this switch is dramatically underestimated in Cisco’s forecasts, which project that in the US only 30% of smartphone and tablet traffic will be offloaded in 2015. Even today, this ludicrously underestimates the amount of tablet offloading, given that the majority of iPads are WiFi-only.
Ironically, the spectrum that might therefore be in greatest demand in the future is unlicensed spectrum, for short range wireless access. That’s why there is considerable pressure from Microsoft and Google to ensure that white spaces are protected in any future broadcast spectrum auction, and why a study for Ofcom on future UK spectrum requirements predicted that there would be more near term demand for incremental unlicensed spectrum than licensed spectrum.
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06.10.11
Posted in Financials, LightSquared, Operators, Regulatory, Spectrum at 4:37 pm by timfarrar
As data continues to emerge on the results of the GPS interference testing, it now seems that LightSquared intends to propose that it should initially use the lower part of its L-band spectrum, but that GPS users should be required to fit filters so that after a multi-year sunset period, LightSquared would be able to use the full 40MHz of MSS-ATC spectrum in its terrestrial network. Indeed LightSquared appears to be insistent that “eventually the company intends to use all the spectrum allocated to it by [the] FCC”.
On the other hand, the GPS industry is asserting that “there is no viable technical fix” and the FCC “should focus its efforts on finding [alternative] spectrum that LightSquared can operate in”. The government-chartered NPEF task force has presented a range of potential mitigation options, of which it appears the most plausible is to “limit implementation to lower end of MSS L-band” (i.e. to just 20MHz of the 40MHz of MSS-ATC spectrum that LightSquared has access to under its agreement with Inmarsat).
It therefore seems possible that caught between these conflicting demands, the FCC could choose to split the baby, permitting LightSquared to operate in the lower part of the L-band, while putting off a decision about the upper part of the L-band until considerable further study is undertaken (very likely taking a year or more). However, this would make it much harder for Harbinger to fund the LightSquared buildout, because it already has a $2B+ obligation to Inmarsat for its spectrum lease (the NPV of $115M increasing at 3% p.a.) and clearance costs, plus $1.5B in first lien debt. Unless the lower 20MHz of spectrum was valued at an implausible $1 per MHzPOP, or LightSquared could renegotiate its deal with Inmarsat (which seems unlikely given that LightSquared has just had to pay Inmarsat another $40M to eliminate Inmarsat’s permitted 9 month excusable delay in making the Phase 1 spectrum available), it would be hard to invest at anything close to the $2.5B value that Harbinger puts on LightSquared’s equity. It would also be problematic for the GPS industry, because GPS-augmentation solutions such as John Deere’s Starfire (for precision agriculture) would still be severely affected by LightSquared’s lower band operations. Thus splitting the baby might actually be far from optimal, forcing large costs on at least some parts of the GPS industry, while not enabling the buildout of LightSquared’s network to proceed.
Next week all eyes will be on the June 15 report, in which LightSquared will set out its proposed mitigation strategy. I would expect it to include a proposal for initial operation in the lower part of the L-band without any further restrictions or delay (something which will presumably be resisted by the GPS industry, who will instead likely propose further study, given that LightSquared “failed to deliver test equipment that matches its proposed operations” for the Las Vegas tests), and then propose an aggressive timetable for resolution of issues in the upper band (where the GPS industry will ask that all terrestrial operations be completely ruled out).
UPDATE: OnStar has also now requested that the FCC require additional testing before reaching a final decision to allow LightSquared to commence ATC service.
However, the big question is whether LightSquared will accompany the release of the report with an announcement of a network sharing agreement with Sprint (arguing that it could use capacity from Sprint if necessary while it waits for upper L-band spectrum). This might sound like a plausible proposition, but of course LightSquared would not be able to pay for its buildout without substantial incremental funding. Realistically the best that LightSquared could hope for is an MoU which requires it to obtain more funding and resolve its FCC issues within the next few months (before Sprint starts its Network Vision buildout in Q4).
It is unclear whether Sprint is prepared to get caught in the Congressional crossfire between the GPS industry and LightSquared, at a time when it needs all the support it can get in its attempts to block the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, and that will probably determine whether a deal comes to fruition next week or not. However, given the pressure Harbinger and LightSquared are under at the moment, it is almost certainly essential that they announce a deal with Sprint next week to have any chance of changing perceptions that Harbinger is as doomed as Captain Ahab.
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06.08.11
Posted in Financials, LightSquared, Operators, Spectrum at 7:01 pm by timfarrar
As concerns continue to swirl around Harbinger and LightSquared, one unexamined issue is whether any FCC (or Congressional) action to restrict LightSquared’s access to the upper part of its spectrum or revoke the January waiver could put LightSquared in default on its $1.5B of first lien debt.
Because this debt offering was private, it is not possible to examine the indentures which specify the events of default. However, TerreStar’s first lien debt indentures are public and probably provide some guidance as to the likely language in the LightSquared debt indentures. TerreStar’s debt indenture states that the events of default include:
(10) (a) failure by the Issuer and the Guarantors to receive the U.S. FCC Letter of Intent Authorization by July 31, 2008; or (b) a revocation, cancellation or relinquishment of (i) the U.S. FCC Letter of Intent Authorization or (ii) any FCC authorization held by the Issuer or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Issuer to operate ancillary terrestrial component facilities, unless the revocation, cancellation or relinquishment (x) remains subject to reconsideration, review, or appeal at the FCC or any court, provided that during the pendency of such reconsideration, review or appeal the Issuer is permitted to utilize the related spectrum and continues to conduct its business in the ordinary course, or (y) is accompanied by the issuance of a substitute or successor license, permit, or authorization of substantially equivalent utility;
While some features are not directly analogous (because, as a Canadian-registered satellite system, TerreStar held a Letter of Intent Authorization from the FCC rather than a License), the critical language would appear to be “a revocation, cancellation or relinquishment of … any FCC authorization held by the Issuer … to operate ancillary terrestrial component facilities, unless the revocation, cancellation or relinquishment (x) remains subject to reconsideration, review, or appeal at the FCC or any court, provided that during the pendency of such reconsideration, review or appeal the Issuer is permitted to utilize the related spectrum and continues to conduct its business in the ordinary course“. If LightSquared’s current ATC waiver was revoked or even if the waiver remained in place but LightSquared was rendered unable to use all of the “related” spectrum for its ATC operations, then (assuming similar language is in the LightSquared first lien debt indentures) an argument could plausibly be made that an event of default had occurred.
Of course, just because an event of default had occurred (and any such proposition would be vehemently resisted by Harbinger), that does not necessarily mean that the first lien debtholders would take action to enforce their rights. However, if a truly dire outcome (such as Congress forbidding the FCC from authorizing LightSquared’s terrestrial operations) did come to pass, then the debtholders might be better off trying to get hold of the cash on LightSquared’s balance sheet before it was all spent, and trying to renegotiate the spectrum lease agreement with Inmarsat before all of the Phase 1 payments had been made. Certainly I would expect all of these options to be under active consideration, as the first lien debtholders in LightSquared contemplate the various possibilities for what happens next.
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06.04.11
Posted in Financials, LightSquared, Operators, Regulatory, Spectrum at 9:49 am by timfarrar
A first, very modest concession has now emerged from the FCC Chairman over the process for authorizing LightSquared’s commercial operations, in a letter dated May 31 to Senator Chuck Grassley. This letter is a response to the demand from Grassley on April 27 for records of communications between and within the FCC related to Harbinger and LightSquared. The May 31 letter completely ignores Grassley’s specific request and also fails to addresses the concerns he expressed about the very short comment period originally set for the November proceeding, which as the CTIA pointed out, was “unlike most satellite modification filings”. Unsurprisingly, Grassley is therefore still upset about the FCC’s “lack of transparency in this case”.
However, the letter does make one modest concession, in that it promises that the Commission “will establish a public comment cycle and give all parties further opportunities to present their views”. This was one commitment that was missing from the January 2011 waiver order, and was of considerable concern to the GPS community, although it does not go as far as the Save Our GPS Coalition requested, which was for a comment period of “at least 45 days” and for “further FCC actions [to] take place with the approval of a majority of the commissioners”.
The FCC Chairman is presumably very cognizant of the language in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would forbid the FCC from authorizing LightSquared’s commercial operations until GPS interference concerns are resolved, and wants to prevent similar language from being included in the final bill. Whether his concession on a public comment period is sufficient to achieve that remains to be seen, especially given his conclusion that “I remain focused on ensuring that the Commission takes full advantage of the incredible economic opportunities that underutilized spectrum presents. This includes the opportunity presented by LightSquared…”
However, even if the FCC is successful in forestalling Congressional intervention, a public comment period (of say 30 days or longer if it includes time for reply comments) will certainly push back the timeline on which a final ruling from the FCC can be expected to at least the end of July, and more likely sometime in August. Unless and until the GPS interference issue is resolved, it hardly seems likely that Sprint will want to finalize a network sharing deal with LightSquared, or that LightSquared will be able to raise the money to pay for that buildout. Thus it appears that a LightSquared IPO in July is certainly off the table, and the supposed network sharing deal with Sprint seems to be no more imminent than it was in mid-March (when supposedly LightSquared was about to announce a deal with Sprint at CTIA) or in mid-April when these reports last emerged.
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05.31.11
Posted in Financials, ICO/DBSD, LightSquared, Operators, Regulatory, Spectrum, TerreStar at 11:08 pm by timfarrar
Although Charlie Ergen has his Seinfeld strategy for exploiting DISH’s new assets, including DBSD and Blockbuster, Harbinger’s plans for LightSquared are becoming ever harder to discern, with news today that LightSquared is “considering a deal with AT&T to buy network capacity from the carrier”. Presumably this story comes in response to concerns that LightSquared might be forbidden from operating its L-band terrestrial network indefinitely, if new language in the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the House of Representatives last week is ultimately included in the final bill. At the very least it now appears that the FAA will insist that LightSquared’s operations be confined to only the lower half of its 40MHz of L-band spectrum, while John Deere contends that “permitting LightSquared to operate its network as proposed or any variant of its currently proposed network will create massive interference into Deere’s StarFire system and other similar systems risking serious harm to the U.S. agriculture industry”.
This news marks yet another 180 degree turn in LightSquared’s ever-changing story, which over the last year has shifted from a $7B contract (or rather MoU) with Nokia Siemens Networks (which disintegrated in January) to a joint bid with MetroPCS for DBSD to a network sharing agreement with Sprint (which at one point was supposedly even going to supplant Clearwire) to now an “initiative” with AT&T, along the way apparently including talks with Cablevision, Time Warner Cable and any number of other companies. This extraordinary saga reads like something by Hans Christian Andersen, the only question being whether the final tale will turn out to be “The Ugly Duckling” or “The Emperor’s New Clothes“.
Meanwhile, the FCC appears to be doing its best to make the TerreStar bankruptcy auction even more confusing, releasing a Public Notice on May 20 which “invites technical input on approaches to encourage the growth of terrestrial mobile broadband services in the 2 GHz spectrum range”. Unfortunately for TerreStar, the FCC once again insists that “the public interest” requires that “any grant of terrestrial rights in the 2 GHz band [should] have ‘conditions designed to ensure timely utilization of the spectrum for broadband and appropriate consideration for the step-up in the value of the affected spectrum’” in the form of “Voluntary Incentive Auctions” or “Voluntary Return of MSS Spectrum Rights”, thereby potentially reducing the perceived value of TerreStar’s MSS spectrum in the upcoming auction quite significantly.
Of course, things are not looking that great for the FCC’s other attempts to bring additional spectrum into use for terrestrial mobile broadband (i.e. LightSquared and broadcast TV incentive auctions), so perhaps the buyer of TerreStar’s spectrum will simply tell the FCC to go pound sand, and continue to pursue a (loss making) satellite-based business plan until a better offer is on the table. However, in those circumstances, whoever buys TerreStar would need to have deep pockets, and be happy to wait for several years rather than seeking a quick flip of the spectrum. Given Harbinger’s experience with LightSquared, that might well put off some of the financial players who could otherwise have been interested in TerreStar’s spectrum.
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05.26.11
Posted in Financials, LightSquared, Operators, Regulatory, Spectrum at 12:24 pm by timfarrar
Over the last week, a clearer picture has begun to emerge of LightSquared and the GPS industry’s respective strategies, as interference tests continue in Las Vegas. Some data is now emerging from these tests, with a GPS World webinar this morning citing that in a rural test case (see presentation), high precision receivers were impacted up to 1800m from the base station (although the radius of interference would obviously be less for narrowband GPS receivers and for more urban environments with higher levels of clutter).
Given that the problem is mainly caused by transmissions in the upper channel (Phase 0 spectrum) closest to the GPS frequencies, LightSquared is already indicating that it will offer to operate only below 1545MHz, until the FCC introduces receiver standards and old GPS equipment is phased out (a process that will take many years to complete). As Jeff Carlisle of LightSquared commented in a May 23 Space News article: “If the most efficient and fair solution is not to do a receiver-side solution, we haven’t taken any of the possible transmission solutions off the table. We can look at ways of implementing our service, how we do it, when we do it, using what spectrum”. Indeed LightSquared has just paid Inmarsat another $40M to speed up the availability of the Phase 1A spectrum, and moved back its commercial deployment timeline into the first half of 2012 for precisely this reason.
However, as problems have emerged with the testing in Las Vegas, it appears that the GPS industry will demand that significant additional testing must be carried out, before LightSquared is given permission to launch commercial service even in the lower part of the band. As Alan Cameron of GPS World put it on this morning’s webinar, LightSquared does not have the full software [needed to operate its base stations in the way it plans to do commercially] so the current testing is premature. A letter sent to the FCC last week, signed by 33 senators, even asks the Commission to “rescind LightSquared’s waiver until this demonstration [of non-interference with GPS] is made”. Of course, as everyone should know, a demonstration of total “non-interference” is impossible.
Next week we should expect to see more data on the government’s testing of interference in New Mexico, based on the charter of the National Space-Based PNT Systems Engineering Forum, which was tasked to produce a final report “in a publicly releasable version” by May 31, 2011. Indications to date are that this testing certainly does not demonstrate “non-interference” with GPS (and the report itself will written by proponents of GPS not LightSquared), so this is likely to intensify the political firestorm aimed at LightSquared and the FCC.
UPDATE: The FAA report is also scheduled to be released on June 3 and, according to a report in FlightGlobal, the conclusions also appear to be problematic for LightSquared, notably a statement that “From an aviation perspective, operations at Phase 0, 1 and 2 spectral deployments, the upper channel [frequencies above 1536MHz] should not be permitted”.
FURTHER UPDATE: The FlightGlobal article has now been taken down, but is still available here and a more complete report on the study is available here. Also the House of Representatives has now passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with strengthened language apparently requiring that the FCC should not provide “final authorization for LightSquared operations until Defense Department concerns about GPS interference have been resolved”. If that bill passes the Senate and is signed by the President, then it would seem likely to stop any prospect of near term commercial operations by LightSquared.
Of course, a requirement for more testing and a further delay to LightSquared obtaining permission to commence service (at best) or a withdrawal of the waiver (at worst) could very easily derail the LightSquared venture completely. I’m told that LightSquared had been hoping to raise money from private equity sources and then undertake an IPO in July, after signing a provisional network sharing agreement with Sprint. This new funding is a pre-requisite for Sprint to move forward with any buildout under the network sharing agreement, because of the upfront costs that it would incur, and so Sprint needs to be convinced that LightSquared will be able to reimburse these costs, either with cash or spectrum rights.
With Sprint expected to announce its plans for Network Vision this summer, LightSquared therefore needs to achieve some certainty about its spectrum position very soon, or risk missing that boat. Ominously, at a New America Foundation event in Washington DC two weeks ago featuring LightSquared’s CEO, Sprint noted that it would be able to host other spectrum on its Network Vision platform, including “possibly Clearwire, possibly public safety”, but conspicuously failed to include LightSquared on that list.
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05.18.11
Posted in LightSquared, Operators, Regulatory, Spectrum at 7:10 pm by timfarrar
Today, it was reported that LightSquared has revised its deployment plans, and now expects “field trials in the third and fourth quarter this year in Baltimore, Las Vegas and Phoenix” followed by “a ‘full-blown commercial’ launch…scheduled for early next year” rather than “by the end of this year” as was indicated in April. Even that was slower than in January, when LightSquared suggested that it was “testing LTE in Baltimore, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix now” and was “expected to launch up to nine Midwest markets this year”.
Back in January, LightSquared was granted a waiver by the FCC, based on commitments that the company was “confident that this [GPS interference] issue can be resolved without delaying deployment of wireless broadband, generally, or the LightSquared network specifically” and that “LightSquared was cognizant of this issue when we made the buildout commitments that served as the basis for the Commission’s own requirements in its March 2010 Order”. Indeed LightSquared also indicated that it would not “continue to roll out our network and meet the rigorous construction timetable that the Commission has made a condition of our authorization” unless the FCC takes “quick, favorable action” to approve its updated business plan.
However, despite the FCC acceding to LightSquared’s waiver request, based on these assurances, it now seems that LightSquared will delay the rollout of its network and blame the GPS interference issue, saying that “the company is watching the FCC before fully rolling out its ground-based network”. It would be understandable if in these circumstances the FCC was becoming somewhat impatient with LightSquared’s progress, and LightSquared’s CEO has recently been doing the rounds of FCC Commissioners, presumably with a view to shoring up LightSquared’s support at the FCC.
UPDATE: LightSquared has told DSLReports that “they’ve always planned their first commercial launch to be in early 2012″. Of course that’s not what LightSquared told the FCC in March 2010, who quoted as part of their public interest rationale for approving the Harbinger takeover that “Service will begin in two trial markets with a commercial launch commencing before the third quarter of 2011, providing service for up to 9 million POPs”.
Looking at LightSquared’s latest statements in more detail, it also appears that Denver has been dropped from the original deployment plan (indeed back in March 2010 LightSquared told the FCC that “service will begin in two trial markets, Denver and Phoenix, with a commercial launch before the third quarter of 2011 providing service to up to 9 million POPs”). It isn’t terribly surprising that the initial rollout will now take place in Las Vegas, because that is basically the easiest major city in the entire US to cover with a wireless network, due to the lack of foliage and the flat terrain. Indeed, ICO (now DBSD) was able to cover the city very well (albeit without the intention to provide indoor coverage) with only 3 base stations, during trials of its MIM service in 2008, as shown in the diagram below.
In Phoenix, I’m told that LightSquared’s site acqusition partner shut down its operations back in January, and at that point the tower companies were no longer being paid rent for the 20 site leases that had been signed. In Baltimore I understand that only a very limited proof of concept deployment was planned (with a handful of base stations at most), to determine the extent of interference with Inmarsat’s maritime safety services. Given this information, unless something significant has changed in the last few months, it seems that at best only a minimal deployment effort is taking place ahead of the potential network sharing agreement with Sprint, and associated contract with Ericsson, that everyone expects to emerge soon (and which today’s Clearwire agreement with Ericsson presumably provides a template for).
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Posted in LightSquared, Operators, Regulatory, Spectrum at 9:04 am by timfarrar
As more information starts to emerge from real world testing into whether LightSquared’s terrestrial network will interfere with GPS receivers, the news appears to be fairly bad for LightSquared on both the technical and political fronts. In addition to Qualcomm’s comments last week, suggesting that the filters in their A-GPS chipsets might need to be upgraded, New Mexico state officials have submitted a letter stating that their testing “substantiate[s] concerns that the LightSquared network will cause interference to GPS signals and jeopardize 911 and public safety nationwide”. Meanwhile the FCC has been asked by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) “for more information on its review” of LightSquared’s plans, including “all communications between the FCC and Falcone or any other Harbinger Capital and LightSquared employees [and] all internal FCC communications regarding LightSquared or Harbinger Capital” and language has been included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that “requires the U.S. Secretary of Defense to notify Congress if he determines that widespread interference with the military’s use of the GPS is caused by a commercial communications service”.
What I’ve always found intriguing is that this issue apparently came out of nowhere to potentially derail the whole LightSquared buildout plan. LightSquared has highlighted that terrestrial use of the L-band has been anticipated since 2003, and that the GPS Industry Council negotiated several agreements with LightSquared (previously SkyTerra and before that MSV) on out-of-band emissions into the 1559-1610MHz band, starting in 2002 and extending right up until August 2009. Indeed in March 2004, the GPS Industry Council urged “the Commission to grant the above referenced [ATC] applications of Mobile Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC (“MSV???), and to do so as soon as possible”, commending MSV “for its proposal to use its spectrum in a responsible manner that ensures the continued utility of GPS receivers operating in the vicinity of MSV ATC stations”.
However, it appears that the GPS Industry Council never recognized the potential for GPS receiver overload from transmissions within LightSquared’s own L-band frequencies. Given their comments above, it seems plausible that they were lulled into a false sense of security by LightSquared’s cooperation over out-of-band interference, including limiting the PSD to -100dBW/MHz or less, a very aggressive commitment, giving a high level of protection to GPS receivers. Of course, LightSquared also benefited from that commitment, because to filter LightSquared’s emissions to this level requires about 3-4MHz of separation between the edge of the GPS band at 1559MHz and LightSquared’s terrestrial transmissions at 1550-1555MHz. When similarly challenging constraints were imposed on Globalstar at 1610MHz, it meant that Globalstar would be less able to operate high power terrestrial transmissions at the bottom edge of its L-band frequencies, restricting Globalstar’s ability to support ATC in its more limited Big LEO L-band allocation (and thereby hampering potential competition to LightSquared).
Given the complexity of these issues and how critical their resolution was in obtaining LightSquared’s ATC license, it is hard to believe that no-one at LightSquared was aware of the possibility of GPS overload interference until it was raised in December 2010. Indeed, in an offhand comment in March 2011, even Mr. Falcone’s wife apparently suggested that “this type of interference has always been a potential issue for GPS”. Nevertheless, it appears that no mention is made of such problems in the risk factors section of SkyTerra’s 10-K filings with the SEC, and the 2009 10-K filing basically states the opposite, noting that “We have also agreed to comply with requirements on our user terminals and base stations that we negotiated with the GPS industry to provide additional protection to GPS receivers, beyond existing mandatory limits. Our compliance with these limits is a condition of our ATC license. All of our broadband wireless system designs take into account these requirements and specifications. We believe that they do not materially limit our network deployment or our ability to achieve our business plan”.
Summing up, it seems that the GPS Industry Council clearly dropped the ball when it came to analyzing the potential impact of LightSquared on GPS receivers. However, they may very well feel that they were the victim of a bait and switch play, thinking that MSV/SkyTerra was being extremely cooperative with its expressed intent to “ensure the continued utility of GPS receivers operating in the vicinity of MSV ATC stations”, when in reality out-of-band interference was not most important issue to consider.
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05.10.11
Posted in Inmarsat, LightSquared, Operators, Regulatory, Spectrum at 3:04 pm by timfarrar
As testing continues into whether LightSquared will interfere with GPS signals, Qualcomm has filed the results of its own initial cellphone testing with the FCC. Of course, LightSquared is depending on Qualcomm as its principal supplier of chipsets and developer of the GMSA/S-EVDO air interface for its satellite services, so it might have been expected that Qualcomm would confirm the position asserted by LightSquared supporters, that cellphones won’t need to use filters to prevent interference with their A-GPS location chips. However, in fact Qualcomm has come to the initial conclusion that “additional rejection of 30dB may be required” and that the current filters used in its A-GPS chipsets may need to be upgraded, in view of how close the upper part of the LightSquared downlink band (the Phase 0 spectrum at 1550-1555MHz) is to the GPS band. Given that most people agree that the interference problem will likely be much worse for other types of GPS receivers, this is not an encouraging result for LightSquared.
LightSquared may therefore be unable to use the Phase 0 spectrum unless receiver standards are imposed on GPS receivers, as the FCC suggested in its recent 2GHz ruling, which indicated that “incumbent users…must use receivers that reasonably discriminate against reception of signals outside their allocated spectrum”. However, Inmarsat indicated yesterday that on April 25, it signed an amendment to its Cooperation Agreement with LightSquared, and received an additional payment of $40M to accelerate the clearing of the Phase 1A spectrum (i.e. to free up the additional 2x5MHz block at the bottom of the L-band, which under the original agreement would have been made available sometime between February and November 2012). Thus it appears that even LightSquared may be acknowledging that the top part of its frequency band will be largely unusable for the foreseeable future, unless and until receiver standards are imposed on the GPS community, requiring a multi-year program of equipment upgrades and recertification, with all of the additional costs and delays that would imply.
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