Yesterday, the FCC made its unofficial announcement stating its intent to deny LightSquared a waiver to build a high-powered, terrestrial LTE network. With this announcement, the FCC has hopefully put to rest a two-year-long conflict between LightSquared and everyone else in the mobile satellite services industry.

The unofficial announcement by the FCC notes that the letter that the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) sent was the primary influence for the FCC to make the final decision to revoke LightSquared’s conditional waiver to deploy a terrestrial LTE network.

This does not mean LightSquared cannot use the spectrum, only that it may not use the spectrum to deploy a terrestrial network. It can still use the spectrum for satellite services, just as its predecessors and competitors have. LightSquared could probably come back with a specification for a satellite-only LTE service that will be augmented by existing terrestrial LTE networks in order to save its deals with its partners.

If LightSquared’s spectrum did not conflict with satellite services, it would have been a great disruptor to the wireless communications industry with its non-traditional business model of selling only to companies on a wholesale basis. To date, no wireless communications company has attempted such a model before. If it had succeeded, LightSquared would have cracked the industry wide open with a nationwide open LTE network.

However, this saga is not over yet. The FCC has not issued an official order yet, so LightSquared has a little time to try to convince the FCC that the matter should not be closed with its waiver revoked. Though once that official order is issued, LightSquared’s plans are officially dead.


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