LightSquared Update - 1/5/12 - 2012 Defense Spending Act May Kill Any Chance of LightSquared Launch

The 500-page-plus National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 details what LightSquared must do get the OK from the FCC to move forward on its its satellite and terrestrial based Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wholesale data service.

The provision, which appears under the Space Activities section of the defense funding bill, prohibits the FCC from permitting any operations that interfere with the military use of GPS in any way. The NDAA, which was signed into law on Dec. 31, 2011, by President Obama, is best known for the controversy surrounding the detention of suspected terrorists.

eWeek goes on to note the very strict requirments for the ok and the reporting requirements to Congress. The cost related to those for the FCC and DoD may shut down the whole thing.

Note that there's a cost factor in the reporting requirement. What this means is that if interference is found, then the military must determine how much it will cost to either fix all of those GPS units in use or find some other way to eliminate the problem. Considering the limitation on the defense budgets with the end of the Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan winding down, it's unlikely that the Defense Department will have the money for a massive repair or swap of GPS receivers.

Said another way, this Act is making it look even worse for LightSquared's network ever getting off the ground.

- eWeek