March 16, 2021

By Dawn M.K. Zoldi (USAF, Ret.)

When most were focused on the transition of power in the White House, the day before the Inauguration and the very last day in office for the outgoing party, the FCC denied a petition to stay (delay) the Ligado Networks deployment of a low-power nationwide network interfering with the GPS signal.

On January 19, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) issued an order denying the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Stay Petition in the Ligado Networks LLC (Ligado) matter.

That petition had requested that the FCC stop Ligado from continuing work in furtherance of its April 2020 authorization allowing the deployment of a low-power terrestrial nationwide network in the L-band. This latest allows Ligado to press on, as they have already been doing. What it did not do was address the NTIA’s Petition for Reconsideration which seeks a relook at the original approval.

The big deal is that the FCC addressed the merits of NTIA’s recon arguments in this latest smackdown, and wasn’t buying what other branches of the government were selling.

How does this bode for NTIA and others, including the Department of Defense (DOD), who assert Ligado’s net will interfere with mission-critical GPS and have petitioned for a Ligado redo? Hard to tell, particularly with a new executive team at the helm and Congressionally-directed interference studies pending.

Excerpt

The Beat Goes On

A new team’s forming up. The day after the election, President Biden appointed Democratic commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as acting Chair to bridge the gap at the Federal Communications Commission. About thirty days into her new role, the Chairwoman shared a draft Order that would make 100 megahertz of mid-band spectrum (3.45-3.55 GHz band) available for auction and 5G deployment. While this move was in furtherance of Congress’ end-of-year Consolidated Appropriations Act and its provision, the Beat CHINA for 5G Act, the public statements accompanying the release are informative of intent.

Rosenworcel said, “We need to deliver the 5G that the American people were promised. That means a 5G that is fast, secure, resilient, and—most importantly—available across the country.”

Ligado’s network will enable 5G.

But at what cost?

That’s the big question, the answer to which should ultimately inform FCC action.

Read more at: https://insidegnss.com/ligado-cleared-to-press-on-for-now/

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NOV. 3, 2020 | BY C. TODD LOPEZ, DOD NEWS

Short of face-to-face conversation, wired internet or telephone land lines — a mystery to many young Americans — nearly every form of communication the Defense Department uses today, especially on the battlefield, is wireless. Some U.S. adversaries are working very hard to cut off that form of communication.

Last week, the Defense Department released the “2020 Department of Defense Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy.” This document not only lays out how the military will guarantee its continued and unfettered access to the airwaves, or spectrum, which facilitates GPS, radio, satellite and cell phone communications. This document also shows how the military plans to master that spectrum while on the battlefield.

“The rise of mobile systems and digital technology across the globe has placed enormous strain on the available spectrum for DOD’s command, control and communication needs,” said Dana Deasy, the department’s chief information officer. “This strategy will help set the conditions needed to ensure our warfighters have freedom of action within the electromagnetic spectrum to successfully conduct operations and training in congested, contested and constrained multi-domain environments across the globe.”

Read more at: https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2404027/new-spectrum-strategy-reveals-dod

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WASHINGTON: The FCC’s controversial decision to let Ligado proceed with its 5G wireless network over fierce DoD objections is just one more example of the broken state of the US regime for managing spectrum, industry experts say.

“There’s a lot of inefficiencies in the process. But it’s basically a fight, with each community pressing its case to its own regulatory body,” Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for technology, policy and regulation, told the Secure World Foundation (SWF) Summit for Space Sustainability this morning.

This has led a little-known but highly influential government advisory panel to recommend a series of options for overhauling the US regulatory system — including the creation of a new agency — to empower a single entity to decide how to balance skyrocketing demands for bandwidth as availability dwindles.

“The United States’ current approach for managing the use of spectrum is no longer effectively serving the needs of the entire stakeholder community and would benefit from reform,” the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) says in a recent report. “Moreover, with the increased use of spectrum by all stakeholders, we agree that issues around allocations, spectrum-sharing and band adjacencies will need to be handled with both speed and skill to ensure that the US is making the most of its critical national resources.”

Read more at: https://breakingdefense.com/2020/09/ligado-exemplifies-broken-us-spectrum-management-industry-experts/

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By Russell Brandom  Aug 3, 2020, 6:01pm EDT

President Trump has withdrawn the nomination of FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, a six-year FCC veteran who was expected by many to be renewed for a third term, as first reported by Reuters. The withdrawal comes less than a week after Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) placed a hold on the nomination over concerns about O’Rielly’s position on a recently approved terrestrial 5G network.

The conflict centers over a controversial 5G network recently approved by the commission. The proposed network would operate on the L-band spectrum traditionally utilized by radar and GPS, operated by Ligado Networks as a low-power terrestrial system. In its proposal, Ligado pledged to report its base stations and operating parameters to avoid any interference with existing L-band users, but critics of the order have remained concerned that the network may interfere with GPS systems.

Read more at: https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/3/21353233/orielly-fcc-nomination-withdrawn-trump-ligado-5g-230

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By THERESA HITCHENSon July 10, 2020 at 3:50 PM

WASHINGTON: Iridium is considering legal action to block the FCC’s controversial approval of Ligado’s 5G mobile wireless network, which much of the federal government says will interfere with GPS.

“From our perspective, the record is clear that the Ligado order adopted this spring is detrimental to satellite communications, users, consumers. We are asking the FCC, Congress and — if needed — the courts to change the outcome, to change or modify,” Robert McDowell, former FCC commissioner under President George W. Bush and Barack Obama and a legal rep for Iridium, told a webinar yesterday sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and Aviation Week.

Iridium operates a satcom constellation in Low Earth Orbit that provides worldwide voice, data, and navigation services (including in the classified arena) to commercial as well as DoD and Intelligence Community customers. McDowell noted that the firm just last year finished launching 75 new satellites (called Iridium-Next), worth $4 billion and serving 1.4 million subscribers.

Read more at: https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/iridium-publicly-threatens-lawsuit-to-overturn-fccs-ligado-vote/

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