International Bureau Invites Comment On NTIA Letter Regarding LightSquared Conditional Waiver

This Public Notice seeks comment on a letter submitted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on February 14, 2012, concerning the results of additional government testing of the potential interference effects of communications equipment that LightSquared seeks authority to operate.

The International Bureau (Bureau) also identifies specific actions that may be taken in light of the NTIA Letter and the full record developed to date in this proceeding. NTIA states that it has monitored the testing done through the Interference Resolution Process and has coordinated additional testing of LightSquared’s equipment by other federal agencies, to assess the interference effects of such equipment on GPS receivers and devices. Based on this testing, NTIA has concluded that LightSquared’s proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and there currently is no practical way to mitigate the potential harmful interference from LightSquared’s planned terrestrial operations in the 1525-1559 MHz band.18 NTIA “conclude[s] at this time that there are no mitigation strategies that both solve the interference issues and provide LightSquared with an adequate commercial network deployment.”

The FCC invites interested parties to file comments in response to the NTIA’s tentative conclusions, no later than March 1, 2012.