LightSquared is Committed to Making Wireless Broadband Accessible and Affordable for Colorado and All Americans
RESTON, Va., Sept. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- LightSquared™'s CEO, Sanjiv Ahuja, will publish an open letter to all Americans that will run in major newspapers, including The Denver Post on Thursday. In the letter, Mr. Ahuja reaffirms LightSquared's commitment to making wireless broadband accessible and affordable across America through the company's wholesale-only nationwide 4G-LTE network integrated with satellite coverage.
The text of the letter reads:
To Americans everywhere,
Today, with limited competition in the U.S. wireless market, there are still vast areas of our country without access to broadband. Other areas are plagued by dropped calls and weak signals.
America's wireless infrastructure is at a critical crossroad as weak signals, dead-zones, and over-subscribed networks risk stalling American innovation and failing to meet consumer needs now and in the future. Within the next 24 months, demand for broadband wireless will outstrip the current total spectrum available in the United States—jeopardizing everything from the smartphones and tablets we love to the emergency responder services we rely upon to keep us safe.
In fact, a 2011 FCC report states that almost one out of three households in Colorado lacks any form of broadband. The current nationwide wireless providers have failed to innovate and in the process have failed to keep pace with consumer and technological demands.
Understanding this impending reality, LightSquared began investing nearly a decade ago in the development of America's first state-of-the-art nationwide wireless broadband network integrated with satellite coverage to provide high quality broadband access and affordability for all Americans. After the review of our engineering and technological plans, LightSquared received the license to operate our network in 2003 and again in 2005 with the full endorsement of the GPS industry. Half a dozen years ago, Republican and Democrat regulators and policy experts understood the impending crisis caused by a lack of competition and innovation, and they, too, endorsed our plan to bring an affordable solution to Americans no matter where they live.
Recently, concerns have been raised about interference with GPS devices. We take these concerns very seriously. Despite the fact that the interference is caused by others' inappropriate use of LightSquared's licensed spectrum, we have been proactive in working toward a solution to the GPS issue. We are making a $150 million private investment in the solution for GPS. We have moved our spectrum farther away from the core GPS frequencies and at the request of the FCC, we set up, funded, and ran the largest and most comprehensive testing program this country has ever seen.
Hundreds of engineers tested hundreds of devices in laboratories around the country, providing experts an enormous bank of data to assess the extent of the problem and design the solution.
With 99.5 percent of all commercial GPS interference accounted for and solved, LightSquared has now tackled solving the remaining .5 percent of GPS interference occurring on precision devices that also inappropriately violate our licensed spectrum. We have partnered with established GPS manufacturers to develop technology that eliminates interference issues for high-precision GPS devices, including those in the agriculture, surveying, construction, and defense industries. Pre-production designs are already in testing; once completed, this technology can be implemented simply, quickly, and inexpensively into GPS devices.
This solution allows our network to coexist harmoniously, side by side, with GPS—generating much-needed competition in the marketplace and ultimately providing more than 260 million Americans with access to wireless broadband.
The facts are clear. The need for additional wireless broadband is imminent. The desire to expand free-market competition and to provide consumers with broader access has been the hallmark of both Republican and Democrat policy makers for more than a decade. Regulators from both Democrat and Republican Administrations have conducted reviews of the LightSquared network—the most extensive in the history of the FCC—and both have reached the same conclusions: they support the LightSquared network.
Business and industry groups also realize the need to innovate in this space. In a letter sent this week to key members of Congress, half a dozen farming organizations - including the American Farm Bureau - urged lawmakers to communicate the benefits of both technologies to the FCC. "The FCC must ensure that accurate GPS will continue to be available for precision agriculture and also ensure that broadband access be made available for all of rural America," the groups said.
LightSquared's commitment to infuse $14 billion of private investment—without any government funding—into America's infrastructure will bring 75,000 jobs over the next five years, competition, and innovation to the U.S. wireless industry, with affordable prices and better service for Americans everywhere. I hope you will join with us as we work to build the 21st-century communications network all Americans deserve.
To learn more, visit us at www.LightSquared.com
Yours sincerely,
Sanjiv Ahuja
Chairman and CEO, LightSquared
About LightSquared
LightSquared's mission is to revolutionize the U.S. wireless industry. With the creation of the first-ever, wholesale-only nationwide 4G-LTE network integrated with satellite coverage, LightSquared offers people the speed, value and reliability of universal connectivity, wherever they are in the United States. As a wholesale-only operator, LightSquared will deploy an open 4G wireless broadband network to be used by existing and new service providers to sell their own devices, applications and services – at a competitive cost and without retail competition from LightSquared. The deployment and operation of LightSquared's network represent more than $14 billion of private investment over the next eight years. For more information about LightSquared, please go to www.LightSquared.com, www.facebook.com/LightSquared and www.twitter.com/LightSquared.
Forward Looking Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements and information regarding LightSquared and its business. Such statements are based on the current expectations and certain assumptions of LightSquared's management and are, therefore, subject to certain risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements expressed herein relate only to information as of the date of this release. LightSquared has no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, nor is there any assurance that the plans or strategies discussed in this release will not change.
SOURCE LightSquared
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