Like most people who desire broadband connectivity in the rural areas of our country,
I was drawn to the promise that LightSquared had in providing that Broadband.
There are complications, however.
LightSquared uses a frequency on the band that drowns out higher ended GPS devices…like the high end units in Agricultural Yield Monitors and Agricultural auto guidance systems. If that isn’t scary enough, it also affects the high end units in Commercial Aircraft.
With all of this scrutiny coming to pass (especially by a group called Coalition to Save our GPS), there were also other problems with the LightSquared application.
Seems they are owned by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, and that includes one of the largest campaign donations to Obama back in 2008. That the application now sits before the FCC, and that no less than two military representatives were “encouraged” by the WhiteHouse to state that the problems between the two frequencies could be abated “within 90 days” back in October of 2011… you see why something should be making you leery of the application. At this writing, and with those 90 days gone past…nothing has changed.
www.farmprogress.com has a blog that’s keeping up with this situation. There’s also more information here.
I think everyone remembers how another donor’s company called Solardyne turned out.
One of Obama’s biggest donors for the 2008 campaign moved to the front of the line to be paid when the solar panel company fell to it’s knees after a $550BIL bailout by the American Taxpayer.
Are we really ready to trust the government to be able to pick winners and losers ? Are we ready to grant them sole authority on who gets a bailout, and who has to tough it out?
Like this:
Filed under: Virginia Politics
I have followed this with some interest as I work around the space business, and from the military stand point we certainly want to make sure that GPS isn’t inadvertently jammed just so we can have wireless connectivity in rural areas. I too could use this by the way.
I want the military heavily involved in figuring out how this will affect GPS. GPS is widely used by everyone these days, but as convenient as it is to us civilians, let’s not forget what it is really for; to make our military more effective.
I understood a while back that LightSquared had figured out a technical solution, so maybe that is why nothing has happened; the Pentagon may be evaluating it.
The last thing we need is another Solyndra like bailout of LightSquared or a politically motivated fiasco that F’s up GPS.
Sgt….
They (LightSquared…as well as this administration) want badly to put this in place.
Note the two military folks who were “encouraged” to testify before Congressional hearings and say back in October (2011) that the system would have the kinks worked out in 90 days.
As I report today, there are no closer solutions…but more hyperbole about the intrusion into GPS frequencies.
The signal stil interferes with Commercial aircraft and agricultural use high end units at this writing.
Another example of ‘crony capitalism’ at its worst.