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The past week has seen doubts cast over the ambitious LightSquared venture to build a national LTE network in the US mobile satellite spectrum. These arose from claims that its services could cause interference to existing users such as government satellite services, which could have delayed clearance to run terrestrial-only applications in the spectrum – a critical element of the business model. To the relief of investors and supporters of open broadband, the FCC has decided to approve non-satellite usage anyway.

The US regulator agreed yesterday to green-light a waiver to allow LightSquared to support terrestrial-only services on its wholesale network, as well as satellite or hybrid offerings. This gives it the flexibility to appeal to a wider range of service provider partners, use conventional handsets, and improve its build-out timetable and cost structure.

Freeing up the underused mobile satellite spectrum for wireless broadband has been a key plank in the FCC’s strategy to increase availability of frequencies and high speed access, so it was clearly inclined to grant the waiver. However, the cellcos, as represented by the CTIA, had demanded that similar flexibility be applied to all players, not just LightSquared. These arguments, and the interference claims, could have delayed the granting of the waiver, threatening LightSquared’s aggressive timetable of roll-out.

Last week, the NTIA told the FCC that several federal agencies, including Homeland Security, were concerned that the network could interfere with government communications services such as GPS, mobile satellite receivers from Inmarsat, and maritime or aeronautical emergency systems. NTIA chief Lawrence Strickling expressed his concerns in a letter to the regulator, writing: "Grant of the LightSquared waiver would create a new interference environment and it is incumbent on the FCC to deal with the resulting interference issues before any interference occurs. Several federal agencies … believe the FCC should defer action on the LightSquared waiver until these interference concerns are satisfactorily addressed."

However, Sanjiv Auja, CEO of the operator, which is backed primarily by Harbinger Capital, wrote to the FCC this week promising to work with the regulator to ensure that there was no interference risk. He pledged not to offer commercial service until the FCC was satisfied on that score, an assurance that seems to have been enough for the agency to proceed with the waiver.

LightSquared is conducting LTE trials in Baltimore, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix, with commercial launches planned by the third quarter of this year.

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