Transportation official: LightSquared 'not compatible' with flight-safety devices

Transportation deputy secretary John Porcari told the House Transportation and Infrastructure's subcommittee on Aviation that LightSquared's planned wireless network is "not compatible" with flight-safety GPS devices used in commercial aircrafts.

He told lawmakers that LightSquared would disrupt GPS systems that pilots use to help them navigate in low altitudes, including devices that warn them when they are getting too close to terrain. Porcari said the Federal Aviation Administration has spent $2 million testing LightSquared's network. He called spending that amount of money to review a private company "quite unusual." Porcari said testing confirmed that LightSquared's signal is not bleeding into the GPS band, but he said GPS receivers are too sensitive too filter out LightSquared's powerful cell towers operating on nearby frequencies.