LightSquared is not giving up on its dream of launching a nationwide LTE network. The company is now asking the Federal Communications Commission to let it share some of the spectrum that the federal government uses for weather balloons. The satellite operator has already won approval to build an LTE network, but still needs to secure spectrum. Earlier this year, LightSquared tested its service using the spectrum it has already licensed, and the FCC said it was interfering with GPS signals. The government banned LightSquared from moving forward with its spectrum, and the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
Mobile network operators who had hoped to buy LightSquared’s wholesale LTE service have turned elsewhere; this week FreedomPop launched its free mobile broadband service on Clearwire’s network after abandoning plans to work with LightSquared.
But LightSquared is determined to find a way to launch its network. Now the company wants to use 5 megahertz of bandwidth that it already owns (1670-1675MHz) and combine that with partial use of the 1675-1680MHz band that is used for weather balloons. The company wants to use the resulting 10 megahertz of spectrum to deliver data to LTE devices, and use another 20 megahertz of spectrum it already owns for uplinking data to its network. In return for the right to share the 1675-1680MHz band with the government, LightSquared is offering to permanently relinquish terrestrial rights to the spectrum closest to the GPS spectrum.
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