How LightSquared Could Cast A Wider Web

LightSquared is poised to change the nature of broadband Internet. But it might render GPS receivers useless in the process.

Backed by Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners (more on Falcone in a bit), LightSquared is attempting to launch a satellite-based wireless broadband network whose coverage area encompasses the United States. Their proposed system, which is based around the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard and uses satellites, would bring remarkably fast Internet access to tens of millions of rural-living Americans that currently lack even reliable mobile phone coverage. LightSquared's setup involves integrating the former SkyTerra mobile satellite communications system with an on-the-ground wireless network that uses the same L-band radio spectrum as the satellites. Access to LightSquared's proposed network is being doled out by a steady series of agreements with commercial service providers--household names such as Sprint and Best Buy. The big snag is that LightSquared's novel proposed communications network could seriously interfere with GPS receivers. Drivers on their way to Wally World who are in the vicinity of one of LightSquared's base stations would merely run a healthy risk of getting lost. Pilots landing at airports near base stations would face much more serious problems--it could be deadly for aircraft and military and commercial vehicles that depend on the devices for safe navigation. LightSquared's on-the-ground wireless network would use a chunk of the radio spectrum which is immediately adjacent to the frequencies used by almost all GPS service providers.