Airwaves Plan Opposed by Pentagon Advances to FCC Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Federal regulators advanced a plan by Ligado Networks LLC for a mobile broadband network over the objections of the U.S. Defense Department that warned it might interfere with military GPS operations.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai sent Ligado’s proposal to a closed-door vote at the agency where he leads a Republican majority. The move signals approval is likely.

Ligado wants to modify use of an airwaves swath it controls to accommodate a speedy wireless network. It portrays the proposal as a fit with the Trump administration’s push to deploy fast 5G mobile service.

Frequencies near Ligado’s handle faint GPS signals from satellites, and critics fear that traffic would be overwhelmed by Ligado’s strong 5G signals linking towers and handsets.

Pai said he was proposing “stringent conditions to prevent harmful interference.” Ligado will “make more efficient use of underused spectrum and promote the deployment of 5G,” Pai said in a statement posted online.

The Defense Department is “strongly opposed” to the proposed service which “would adversely affect the military potential of GPS,” according to filings released April 10.

The fight shows how rivalries over airwaves are growing as more services move to wireless, and pressure builds for more frequencies to accommodate them. For instance, electric utilities have objected to sharing airwaves with wi-fi, a proposal set for an FCC vote next week.

For Ligado, the battle may be a matter of life or death. It faces due dates in December on $4.6 billion in debt.

The company based in Reston, Virginia commended Pai, according to its statement posted online.

“Ligado is committed to the twin goals of protecting GPS while delivering highly secure and ultra-reliable communications,” Ligado Chief Executive Officer Doug Smith said in the statement.

In a Feb. 11 letter to White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, Ligado said its airwaves could be used to reduce the time to build 5G networks. Attorney General William Barr in a February speech called on the FCC to act on Ligado’s request and on Thursday issued a statement lauding Pai’s action.

“This is essential if we are to keep our economic and technological leadership and avoid forfeiting it to Communist China,” Barr said in the statement.

Earlier objections over possible interference forced the company, then called LightSquared Inc. and controlled by financier Philip Falcone, into bankruptcy in 2012. It since has offered a revised plan it said will lessen prospects of GPS interference. The company has reduced power levels and said it wouldn’t use some of its airwaves.

LightSquared emerged from bankruptcy with owners including JPMorgan Chase & Co., the private equity firm Centerbridge Capital Partners LP, and Fortress Investment Group LLC, and Falcone holding a minority stake. Its chairman is Ivan Seidenberg, former chief executive officer of Verizon Communications Inc.

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