LightSquared mobile broadband network still interferes with GPS signals

Last week, the results from the latest testing of LightSquared's mobile broadband network were revealed by a leaked document, and they did not look very promising. In particular, the network that the LTE wholesaler is trying to deploy was still found to interfere with GPS communications despite the company's claims that it had found a solution to the issue.

Now, the test results have already been made official and confirm what the leaked papers stated. LightSquared's network is unable to affect the operation of cellphones, but can cause “harmful interference to the majority of other tested general purpose GPS receivers,” as the U.S. Defense and Transportation departments said in a joint statement on Wednesday. Besides, the LTE wholesaler's towers can interfere “with a flight safety system designed to warn pilots of approaching terrain,” as indicated by a separate test conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration. Sanjiv Ahuja, CEO of LightSquared, reiterated that the GPS is to blame for lacking the filters necessary to block out the frequencies licensed to his company. 

Back in July, LightSquared and Sprint agreed to a 15 year deal that grants the former with access to Sprint's 3G network. At the same time, Sprint will be allowed to purchase half of LightSquared's LTE network. However, if the government prevents the wholesaler from turning on its network, that might hinder Sprint's transition to LTE.

source: Reuters