LightSquared not going down without a fight
June 27, 2011, 09:02 pm
In what has become an increasingly intense battle over the country's airwaves, LightSquared wants the GPS industry to pay to shield its devices from interference the company's wireless internet transmitters may cause. An economic impact study performed by the Brattle Group on LightSquared's behalf claims that the GPS industry has received $18 billion in subsidies from the federal government.
The company goes on to say that wireless companies are required to invest billions of dollars in transmission sites and satellites, ensuring there is no interference with GPS receivers. The report states that if GPS companies were to offer the same services without government funding and the U.S. GPS satellite network they would have to build their own billion-dollar system.
Many pilots are concerned about the possible interference LIghtSquared's network poses to their GPS systems, possibly increasing the number of pilots life insurance claims by making the skies more dangerous to navigate.
LightSquared claims that its wireless internet network would bring $12 billion in value to the economy and $120 billion in consumer benefits. The cost to the GPS industry to improve the filters would only be a small portion of the benefits the system would create, the report states.
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