GPS World

Tag: Ligado Network

  • Ligado moves forward with lawsuit against DOD

    Ligado moves forward with lawsuit against DOD

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has allowed Ligado Networks to proceed with its $39 billion lawsuit against the federal government, marking a significant development in a long-standing dispute over 5G spectrum usage and property rights.

    Judge Edward Damich partially favored Ligado by acknowledging the company’s case for property interest in the spectrum allegedly used by the Department of Defense (DOD) while rejecting its claim that the FCC license constituted a property right subject to federal taking.

    The controversy stems from the FCC’s 2020 decision granting Ligado exclusive authority over spectrum near GPS frequencies, raising concerns about potential interference with GPS systems. Ligado’s October 2023 lawsuit accuses the U.S. government of conducting a “multiyear misinformation and disparagement campaign” to conceal its activities and misappropriate Ligado’s licensed spectrum for DOD systems without permission or compensation.

    The government attempted to dismiss the lawsuit in January 2024, arguing lack of jurisdiction and that Ligado couldn’t establish a cognizable property interest in its FCC license. However, Judge Damich’s ruling allows the case to proceed.

    At the core of this dispute is the proximity of Ligado’s L-band spectrum to GPS frequencies, raising concerns about potential interference with critical GPS signals used for navigation, timing and various applications essential for national security and economic stability. The DOD, GPS companies and industry officials have strongly opposed Ligado’s plans for a terrestrial 5G network, arguing it could cause harmful interference to GPS receivers.

  • US DOJ moves to dismiss Ligado lawsuit

    US DOJ moves to dismiss Ligado lawsuit

    The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed to dismiss satellite communications firm Ligado Network’s October 2023 lawsuit against the federal government, arguing that the court does not have jurisdiction and the company’s claims have no legal basis.

    Ligado’s $40 billion suit alleged that officials at the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) took “unlawful actions” to, in effect, improperly seize the firm’s L-band spectrum without compensation. Ligado was granted to build a 5G communications network by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020.

    Ligado plans to use the L-band spectrum — normally used by satellites — to develop a wireless cell phone network. However, the DoD, and several other federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation (DOT), have expressed concerns that Ligado’s terrestrial operations could have harmful effects on GPS.

    According to Ligado, as long as the DOD continues to use the spectrum, Ligado will be unable to use it to launch its terrestrial communications services.

    The DOJ’s motion asserts that rather than the U.S. Federal Claims Court, the issue instead falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Act, which “established a comprehensive remedial scheme” for FCC licensing decisions.

    Secondly, the motion says Ligado’s complaint “fails to allege any authorized government actions that could give rise to takings liability, and instead, it contends that the government has been engaged in an unlawful effort to preclude Ligado from using its FCC license. These contentions necessarily preclude any takings liability.”

    The motion goes on to contest each of the Ligado suit’s four specific legal claims. The DOJ alleges, “Ligado fails to plead any plausible facts to support its purely speculative claim that the government has occupied its licensed spectrum. And its theory that the government required a spectrum ‘dead zone’ around the separate spectrum bands allocated for GPS use similarly fails because Ligado cannot identify any authorized government action that precluded it from actually using its modified license.”

    In response to the motion, Ligado provided a statement to Breaking Defense, reiterating its complaint that government officials deliberately deprived Ligado of its rightfully licensed property and must be held accountable.

    “This attack on an American business by the world’s most powerful institution is contrary to the rule of law and antithetical to the government’s years-long support for the deployment of 5G technology as a vital national priority,” the statement said. “We worked diligently and in good faith with government agencies to find a fair resolution but were left with no choice but to pursue litigation to defend our interests. We continue to stand firmly behind our complaint and will reply to the government’s motion in the appropriate forum.”

  • As launch looms, threat from Ligado returns

    As launch looms, threat from Ligado returns

    Matteo Luccio
    Luccio

    “The new LightSquared business plan and the new FCC rules significantly expand the terrestrial transmission increasing the potential for interference to GPS receivers,” the U.S. departments of Defense and Transportation (DOD and DOT) wrote to the Federal Communications Commission in 2011 after the FCC granted the company permission to offer broadband via its satellite and base station networks to a wide variety of mobile broadband partners. The move — heralded by supporters as hastening the advent of 4G services across the country, especially in underserved communities — sent shockwaves across the GNSS/PNT community, which opposed the plan forcefully for the threat it posed to GPS.

    Reborn in December 2015 as Ligado Networks, the company obtained the FCC’s unanimous approval in April 2020 for the use of spectrum near the L-bands used by GPS for its 5G network. It is scheduled to launch its first deployment at the end of September.

    Nearly all the federal government, including DOD and DOT, as well as most manufacturers of GNSS receivers, are very strongly opposed. On September 9, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee to Review FCC Order 20-48 will release its independent evaluation of the issue, as mandated by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

    The study, begun in May 2021, considered three issues:

    1. Which of two prevailing proposed approaches for evaluating harmful interference is most effective to mitigate the risk of harm.

    2. The potential for harmful interference from Ligado to mobile satellite services — such as Iridium.

    3. The feasibility and practicality of the remedies proposed by the FCC.

    A summary of the report can be found here.

    Welcome Penny Axelrad

    I am very pleased to announce that Prof. Penina “Penny” Axelrad has joined GPS World’s Editorial Advisory Board.
    Penny is a University of Colorado (CU) Distinguished Professor in the Ann and HJ Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from MIT and her Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. She has been a member of the faculty at CU since 1992, serving as primary advisor for 25 Ph.D. graduates and many M.S. and undergraduate research students.

    Penny has been active in research on GPS and PNT technology and applications for aircraft, spacecraft and remote sensing, as well as estimation of satellite orbits and attitude, since 1985, co-authoring more than 60 journal papers and 130 conference papers. She has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on grants and contracts totaling $17 million. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Since 2013 she has served as a member of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board.

    I overlapped with Penny at MIT in the mid-1980s. Now, nearly 40 years later, I look forward to her contributions to this magazine.

  • Agriculture groups join Keep GPS Working Coalition to reverse FCC Ligado decision

    Agriculture groups join Keep GPS Working Coalition to reverse FCC Ligado decision

    Photo: artiemedvedev/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: artiemedvedev/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    Several agriculture groups have been added to the Keep GPS Working Coalition, which was launched in June to protect GPS users from harmful interference resulting from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to permit Ligado Networks to operate a terrestrial wireless network in the band adjacent to GPS.

    The groups added to the coalition include the Agricultural Retailers Association, American Soybean Association, Equipment Dealers Association, Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council of America and USA Rice Federation.

    The new members from the agriculture sector join the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Road & Transportation Builders Association, Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association and Boat Owners Association of The United States in urging the reversal of the FCC’s Ligado order.

    “The FCC’s decision represents a sweeping governmental and regulatory assault on farmers who are already facing unprecedented challenges including severe weather, low commodity prices and supply chain vulnerability as a result of COVID-19,” said Dale Leibach, spokesperson for the Keep GPS Working Coalition. “The order must be stopped. The FCC’s decision must be reversed.”

    According to the coalition, farmers are increasingly relying on precision agriculture applications that deliver centimeter-level accuracy that enables farmers to maximize crop yields while lowering costs and environmental impact. Precision farming also reduces costs for consumers, delivers economic benefits for rural economies and enables the efficient production of the foods required to meet a growing global demand for food, fiber and fuel, the coalition added.

    “Ag retailers often fill a role as trusted advisor to their farmer customers, suggesting new and emergent technologies in the precision ag space,” said Daren Coppock, president and CEO of the Agricultural Retailers Association. “Without the GPS location services needed for proper planning and implementation of these resources, farmers may not have the tools they need to increase crop yields, lower input loads and decrease inefficacies. ARA stands behind the coalition’s work to protect GPS as a valuable resource to farmers.”

    Agriculture industry leaders and a member of the House Committee on Agriculture will participate in a conversation discussing how the FCC’s decision to allow Ligado Networks to operate a terrestrial wireless network will threaten the reliability of GPS receivers used in precision agriculture at 11 a.m. EDT on Oct. 1. Details can be found here.