[time-nuts] FCC Asks If You and GPS Should Be Protected from Interference

[John Darwin Powers]

Group .... the following material may be out of context of the normal subject matter, but take notice of the underlined portion in the second paragraph.


FCC Asks If You and GPS Should Be Protected from Interference

“We invite comment on LightSquared’s petition, and establish a pleading cycle.” Thus spake the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), groping for a way forward in the ongoing LightSquared/GPS conflict. The FCC has opened an Internet docket for public comment<http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment_search/input?z=wtyos> on the LightSquared position that GPS users and receivers “do not merit legal protection from interference” created by LightSquared. The FCC asks for comments by February 27.

LightSquared asked the FCC in December to rule that GPS receivers and users “do not merit legal protection from interference” caused by the proposed wireless broadband service. Such interference has been amply demonstrated by comprehensive testing from May to October of last year. Opening the docket for public comment is the FCC’s way of fielding the LightSquared petition.

LightSquared claimed in its December 20 petition that GPS makers sell “unlicensed and poorly designed” receivers that improperly listen to LightSquared’s airwaves.

Jim Kirkland, general counsel of Trimble Navigation Ltd. and head of the Save Our GPS Coalition, responded that Congressional directives bar the FCC from clearing LightSquared before questions of GPS interference are settled. The company’s December requests consists of “gross mischaracterization of prior FCC decisions,” Kirkland stated. “LightSquared and its predecessors have never been allowed to interfere with GPS.”

Parties are invited to file comments<http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment_search/input?z=wtyos> in response to LightSquared’s petition for declaratory ruling inIB Docket No. 11-109 or ET Docket No. 10-142, no later than February 27. Parties may file replies in response to those comments in IB Docket No. 11-109 or ET Docket No. 10-142, as appropriate, no later than March 13.

Click here for the FCC Public Notice<http://www.gpsworld.com/GNSS%20System/fcc-request-ls-comment-12554>, "International Bureau Establishes Pleading Cycle for LightSquared Petition for Declaratory Ruling."

PUBLIC NOTICE
DA 12-103 January 27, 2012
INTERNATIONAL BUREAU ESTABLISHES PLEADING CYCLE FOR LIGHTSQUARED PETITION FOR DECLARATORY RULING
IB Docket No. 11-109 ET Docket No. 10-142
Comment Date: February 27, 2012 Reply Comment Date: March 13, 2012
On December 20, 2011, LightSquared Inc. (LightSquared) filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling (Petition), requesting that the Commission “resolve the regulatory status” of commercial Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, to the extent their operations may be impaired by the ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) of LightSquared’s licensed operations in the 1524-1559 MHz Mobile-Satellite Service (MSS) band.1 To this end, LightSquared requests specific declarations designed to establish that commercial GPS devices are not entitled to interference protection from LightSquared’s operations, so long as LightSquared operates within the technical parameters prescribed by rule and Commission Order.2 Pursuant to Rule 1.2(b), we invite comment on LightSquared’s petition, and establish a pleading cycle.
On January 26, 2011, the International Bureau granted LightSquared Subsidiary LLC (a subsidiary of LightSquared Inc., hereinafter also referred to as LightSquared) a conditional waiver of the ATC “integrated service” rule, thereby establishing certain conditions that LightSquared must meet before it can provide the terrestrial portion of service contemplated by its proposed integrated satellite and terrestrial 4G wireless network.3 The Conditional Waiver Order prescribed an Interference-Resolution Process by which LightSquared would work with the GPS community to resolve concerns raised about potential interference to GPS receivers and devices that might result from LightSquared’s planned terrestrial operations. As a condition of commencing such commercial operations, the Conditional Waiver Order required that this process first be “completed,” a term defined as the point at which “the Commission, after consultation with
1 Petition for Declaratory Ruling, filed by LightSquared Inc., at i (filed Dec. 20, 2011). 2 Id. at 29.
3 In the Matter of LightSquared Subsidiary LLC, Request for Modification of its Authority for an Ancillary Terrestrial Component, Order and Authorization, 26 FCC Rcd 566 (IB, rel. Jan. 26, 2011) (Conditional Waiver Order).
Federal Communications Commission 445 12th St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322NTIA, concludes that the harmful interference concerns have been resolved and sends a letter to LightSquared stating that the process is complete.”4
To date, the Interference-Resolution Process has not been completed. Although LightSquared submitted, as a required step in the Process, the final report of the technical working group that it co-chaired with the U.S. GPS Industry Council (USGIC), the Commission issued a Public Notice calling for public comment on the report5 and has since asked for additional technical submissions and testing. In reply comments filed in connection with the Public Notice, LightSquared raised a full range of issues regarding the scope of interference protection to which GPS receivers are entitled.6
Separately, in the Report and Order in ET Docket No. 10-142, which focused on the addition of terrestrial service allocations to the 2 GHz MSS band, the Commission briefly discussed the Conditional Waiver Order and the Interference-Resolution Process.7 The U.S. GPS Industry Council (USGIC) filed a petition for reconsideration in that docket, requesting a statement from the Commission that the GPS community is not required to share responsibility for resolving interference issues with MSS ATC providers like LightSquared.8 The USGIC Recon Petition, which is pending, contends that MSS licensees providing ATC service are required to protect GPS receivers from interference caused by such terrestrial operations, and that the Commission has placed the obligation to resolve harmful interference on those MSS licensees.9 LightSquared opposed the USGIC Recon Petition, raising many of the same arguments contained in its Petition for Declaratory Ruling.10
On December 23, 2012, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2012 (2012 General Government Appropriations Act) was enacted into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012.11 Section 628 of the 2012 General Government Appropriations Act prohibits the Commission from using any funds made available by that Act “to remove the conditions imposed on commercial terrestrial operations in the Order and Authorization adopted by the Commission on January 26, 2011 (DA 11-133) [i.e., the Conditional Waiver Order], or otherwise permit such operations, until the Commission has resolved concerns of potential widespread harmful interference by such commercial terrestrial operations to commercially available Global Positioning System devices.”12
4 Id. at 587. 5 Comment Deadlines Established Regarding the LightSquared Technical Working Group Report, Public Notice, IB
Docket No. 11-109, Public Notice, DA 11-1133 (IB, rel. June 30, 2011) (Public Notice). 6 Reply Comments of LightSquared Subsidiary LLC in IB Docket No. 11-109 and File No. SAT-MOD-20101118-
00239 (filed Aug. 15, 2011).
7 In the Matter of Fixed and Mobile Services in the Mobile Satellite Service Bands at 1525-1559 MHz and 1626.5- 1660 MHz, 1610-1626.5 MHz and 2483-2500 MHz, and 2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200 MHz, ET Docket No. 10- 142, Report and Order, 26 FCC Rcd 5710, 5722 (2011) (Report and Order).
8 See Petition for Reconsideration of the U.S. GPS Industry Council in ET Docket No. 10-142, at 10 (filed June 30, 2011) (USGIC Recon Petition); Report and Order, 26 FCC Rcd at 5723.
9 USGIC Recon Petition at 8-9. 10 See Opposition of LightSquared Subsidiary LLC in ET Docket No. 10-142 (filed Aug. 25, 2011).
11 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-74, at Division C – Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2012 (enacted Dec. 23, 2011) (2012 Appropriations Act).
12 Id. § 628.
2
In the instant Petition, LightSquared in essence seeks a declaratory ruling that, provided ATC operations are conducted in accordance within the Commission’s technical parameters, commercially available GPS devices are not protected against harmful interference caused by those ATC operations. Section 628 of the 2012 General Government Appropriations Act bears on this issue as it relates to LightSquared, inasmuch as it precludes the Commission from permitting LightSquared to engage in such ATC operations under the Conditional Waiver Order until we have resolved concerns about interference to GPS. Further, because we believe the ongoing Interference-Resolution Process provides the most appropriate forum for considering LightSquared’s satisfaction of the interference-resolution conditions of the Conditional Waiver Order, we associate LightSquared’s Petition with the docket established by the Commission for petitions for reconsideration of the Conditional Waiver Order, IB Docket No. 11-109. To the extent the Petition raises general issues about the regulatory status of GPS devices, these issues will be considered in ET Docket No. 10-142.
Accordingly, interested parties are invited to file comments in response to LightSquared’s petition for declaratory ruling in IB Docket No. 11-109 or ET Docket No. 10-142, as appropriate, no later than 30 days after the release date of this public notice. Parties may file replies in response to those comments in IB Docket No. 11-109 or ET Docket No. 10-142, as appropriate, no later than 15 days after the date that comments are due.
This proceeding shall be treated as a “permit-but-disclose” proceeding in accordance with the Commission’s ex parte rules.13 Persons making ex parte presentations must file a copy of any written presentation or a memorandum summarizing any oral presentation within two business days after the presentation (unless a different deadline applicable to the Sunshine period applies). Persons making oral ex parte presentations are reminded that memoranda summarizing the presentation must (1) list all persons attending or otherwise participating in the meeting at which the ex parte presentation was made, and (2) summarize all data presented and arguments made during the presentation. If the presentation consisted in whole or in part of the presentation of data or arguments already reflected in the presenter’s written comments, memoranda or other filings in the proceeding, the presenter may provide citations to such data or arguments in his or her prior comments, memoranda, or other filings (specifying the relevant page and/or paragraph numbers where such data or arguments can be found) in lieu of summarizing them in the memorandum. Documents shown or given to Commission staff during ex parte meetings are deemed to be written ex parte presentations and must be filed consistent with rule 1.1206(b). In proceedings governed by rule 1.49(f) or for which the Commission has made available a method of electronic filing, written ex parte presentations and memoranda summarizing oral ex parte presentations, and all attachments thereto, must be filed through the electronic comment filing system available for that proceeding, and must be filed in their native format (e.g., .doc, .xml, .ppt, searchable .pdf). Participants in this proceeding should familiarize themselves with the Commission’s ex parte rules.