U.S.: Keep GPS Working Coalition Launched Following FCC’s Controversial Ligado Order

By Business Wire

Five organizations representing thousands of companies and millions of Americans have launched a new coalition to protect end users of GPS following the Federal Communications Commission’s April 22 decision to permit Ligado Networks to operate a terrestrial wireless network using its satellite spectrum. Ligado’s planned use of its so called “L-Band”spectrum, which is closely adjacent to bands used by GPS, would threaten the reception capability of hundreds of millions of GPS devices.

Founding members of the Keep GPS Working Coalition include the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA) and the Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatU.S.). As its first action, the Keep GPS Working Coalition will endorse the Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for GPS and Satellite Communications Act, which is expected to be formally introduced this week by Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

The FCC’s decision threatens GPS reliability for countless consumers, farmers, ranchers, pilots, boat owners, surveyors, construction companies and other private GPS users who will be forced to suffer interference to their GPS devices or to pay to replace them. The FCC admits in its order that there are cases where both government and private GPS receivers — including those that power aviation, agriculture and other key industries — will suffer harmful interference, but failed to provide a technically feasible and adequate remediation solution for consumer and business end users.

The FCC also failed to conduct an open and comprehensive rulemaking process before issuing the Ligado order, instead circulating a final decision only among FCC commissioners while major stakeholders grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, the FCC ignored established technical standards determining whether GPS devices would suffer harmful interference, instead relying on limited studies using vague and impractical criteria to assess interference with the GPS signal, while disregarding mountains of evidence on the topic under the established methodology.