LightSquared today formally presented its modified spectrum plan to the FCC and its proposed solution to the GPS interference issue. The company has admitted that its wireless technology would cause some interference with GPS devices, but now says it’s the GPS industry’s own fault.

According to LightSquared, "GPS device test results, which were also filed at the FCC today, show unequivocally that the interference is caused by the GPS device manufacturer’s decision over the last eight years to design products that depend on using spectrum assigned to other FCC licensees."

LightSquared’s statement reads, "GPS device manufacturers, unlike relevant government agencies, have been largely uninterested in finding a win-win solution. Rather, their only answer to a problem of their own making is to demand that the government simply block LightSquared. This is a problem that the GPS industry could have avoided by equipping their devices over the last several years with filters that cost as little as five cents each."

Earlier this month LightSquared proposed a solution to GPS interference that would involve moving to a different part of its spectrum and reducing the power of its base-station transmitters by over 50 percent. (For more see, LightSquared Proposes Solution to GPS Interference).

Today’s announcement from LightSquared continued, "Despite the GPS industry’s claims, the FCC does not face a stark choice between reliable GPS service and a new competitor in the broadband market. In fact, the testing results released today show LightSquared’s proposed solution resolves interference for approximately 99.5 percent of all commercial GPS devices- including 100 percent of the 300 million GPS-enabled cell phones. While issues remain with precision GPS devices, LightSquared is fully committed to finding a solution. It is unthinkable that a nation which recently completed a complex digital-television transition involving nearly every household in the U.S. will be stymied by a problem posed by approximately 200,000 GPS devices."

For a more comprehensive look at LightSquared, see Communications Technology’s July/August magazine.

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