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Senate Politics Over LightSquared Threatens FCC Nominations

Dec 9, 2011, 1:29 PM by Eric M. Zeman

The Senate Commerce Committee has provisionally approved President Barack Obama's nominees to fill vacant seats on the Federal Communications Commission. The committee upheld Republican Ajit Vradaraj Pai and Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel's nominations in a vote last week, preparing the nominees for a full senate vote. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, however, has threatened to place a hold on the nominees' vote until the FCC releases more documents concerning its January decision to allow LightSquared to operate its planned Long Term Evolution 4G network on L-Band satellite spectrum. Grassley accused the FCC of rushing to approve LightSquared's plans, which have since been shown to interfere with aviation and military GPS performance. "As a last resort to try to exhort more transparency and accountability from the FCC, I'll place a hold on consideration of the agency nominees on the Senate floor," Grassley said in an interview with Bloomberg. LightSquared's plans continue to draw fire, despite its assurances that the interference issues can be resolved. Today, LightSquared announced that it has signed its 30th wholesale partner, which will resell LightSquared's 4G broadband services if the network ever launches.

Fierce Wireless »

Dec 1, 2021
T-Mobile recently announced that its mid-band 5G network now covers over 200 million people, a threshold that the industry acknowledges as "nationwide" coverage. (Mid-band 5G offers an ideal balance of fast data speeds and broad coverage compared to 5G in other bands.) In an interview with Phone Scoop, T-Mobile executives detailed how they plan to maintain the company's lead in mid-band 5G even as Verizon and AT&T launch mid-band 5G early next year.

Verizon, AT&T Moving Forward with C-Band 5G Launch This Week Over FAA Objection

Jan 2, 2022
Verizon and AT&T this morning refused a request by federal transportation officials to delay this week's planned launch of 5G service in the critical new C Band. [Update: By evening, the two companies agreed to a two-week delay.] The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) insists that the service could potentially interfere with radio altimeters that planes use to measure distance to the ground in poor weather.

AT&T, Dish Big Winners in FCC's Latest Mid-Band Auction

Jan 14, 2022
The US FCC (Federal Communications Commission) just announced the winners of its auction 110, for prime new mid-band radio spectrum ideal for 5G. AT&T and Dish spent the most, each splurging for enough licenses to cover the entire continental US.

AT&T, Verizon Agree to Hold Back C Band 5G Near Airports

Jan 18, 2022
AT&T and Verizon are moving forward with this week's launch of 5G service in the new C Band, but have voluntarily agreed to new restrictions around airports at the request of major US airlines. The airlines have asked for 5G in the C Band to be banned within two miles of airport runways, a limitation that will severely reduce availability of the service in some cities.

FCC To Start Next Mid-Band Auction in July

Mar 1, 2022
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel gave a speech at the MWC trade show in Barcelona today where she announced that the FCC will start Auction 108 for 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum in July of this year. This is the same band 41 that T-Mobile currently uses.

Comments

This forum is closed.

This forum is closed.

jmoita2

Dec 9, 2011, 1:55 PM

FCC...

Ha! At this point the president could nominate Jesus or Ghandi to head the FCC,and the republicans would block it...

dlmjr

In reality, they are blocking a Republican and a Democrat nominee.

So much for Republicans = bad knee jerk

Tofuchong

The republicans would block both Jesus and Ghandi either way, as that would bring too much competence to the government. We cant have that!

...

dlmjr

Rename this article, I Hate Republicans.

Everybody is ignoring the fact that the FCC is messing around with allowing LS to use a portion of the spectrum that will interfere with GPS, to include military and air traffic.

So, a congress person thr...
(continues)

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