CCA Asks FCC To Take Public Comments on Ligado's LTE Plans
Competitive Carriers Association joined Ligado Networks and Trimble (see 1602040015) in asking the FCC to issue a public notice seeking comments on a proposed auction of the 1675-1680 MHz band and of Ligado's related license modification request. In a filing…
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Friday in docket 12-340, CCA said Ligado's proposed L-band terrestrial broadband service could mean "putting to use spectrum that has been lying fallow for years." CCA also said the agency "should seize this opportunity to incentivize private sector entities to invest their own time and capital to enable more efficient use of federal spectrum," but didn't elaborate. Ligado -- the former LightSquared -- has pushed repeatedly for the FCC to open comments on its LTE plans, which include shared commercial use and auction of 1675-1680 MHz spectrum, currently used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (see 1601270046). The FCC didn't comment Friday. In a separate filing Friday in the docket, Ligado submitted a declaration by former Motorola Mobility Chief Technical Officer Bill Alberth and a GPS market analysis to back its argument that LTE operational limits in the settlement it reached with Garmin also will benefit other GPS operators. Since a small number of suppliers serve the GPS hardware market, "any improvements, modifications, or other changes to components required by a market-leading firm like Garmin will result in an updated component not only being sold to that company, but also to all other GPS consumer device manufacturers," Ligado said. The company also said it plans to start working with 3rd Generation Partnership Project once the FCC modifies its spectrum licenses, "mak[ing] it possible for Ligado to seek industry agreement and support for its spectrum to be incorporated in this 3GPP Release 14 for March 2017." That would lead to chipsets, software and hardware that could use the Ligado band coming out as "part of the wireless industry’s transition to 5G, with its tremendous capability to yet again revolutionize the mobility experience for consumers," it said.