Report: Harbinger files lawsuit against federal government over LightSquared investment

LightSquared is looking to gain financial compensation from the federal government over losing its ability to offer wireless communication services.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Harbinger Capital Partners, which controls LightSquared, filed a lawsuit against the government for withdrawing LightSquared’s access to its spectrum license in the 1.6 GHz band. The lawsuit was filed late last week in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., with Harbinger claiming it had lost “most of its $1.9 billion investment.”
According to the report, the lawsuit notes that LightSquared was initially given approval to use its license to begin rolling out wireless services, only to have the Federal Communications Commission then revoke that access following claims by the GPS community that the LightSquared service would interfere with some ground-based GPS units.
“As a consequence of the United States’ breach, Harbinger has been severely injured, for which it is entitled to money damages and interest in such an amount as the proof at trial may warrant,” the lawsuit claims.
The FCC in early 2011 – under previous Chairman Julius Genachowski – approved LightSquared’s use of its spectrum licenses initially set aside for satellite use to terrestrial, noting the proposed offering was in the public interest.
“We find the totality of the facts and circumstances surrounding LightSquared’s proposal, including the specific commitments it makes in its filing and several unique circumstances of LightSquared’s activities in the MSS L-band, to be consistent with the public interest and the purpose of the MSS/ATC gating criteria. … We find good cause to grant LightSquared a conditional waiver of Section 25.149(b)(4) of the Commission’s rules for services provided by LightSquared using its MSS L-band spectrum,” the FCC noted in its initial report.
One year later, the FCC revoked that permission, citing concerns from the GPS community.
“The Commission clearly stated from the outset that harmful interference to GPS would not be permitted,” said an FCC spokeswoman in February, 2012, in a statement following the filing of a report by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. “This is why the conditional waiver order issued by the commission’s International Bureau prohibited LightSquared from beginning commercial operations unless harmful interference issues were resolved. … NTIA, the federal agency that coordinates spectrum uses for the military and other federal government entities, has now concluded that there is no practical way to mitigate potential interference at this time. Consequently, the commission will not lift the prohibition on LightSquared.”
LightSquared subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection, which earlier this month resulted in its latest proposal to emerge from under that cloud.
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