LightSquared plans to make wholesale satellite broadband available to 92% of U.S.

New wholesale satellite broadband provider LightSquared Inc. is planning to bring Internet access to rural Americans this year. Since the launch of its LightSquared SkyTerra I satellite on Nov. 14, U.S.-based LightSquared says it is now building one of the only national 4G-LTE open wireless broadband networks in United States. Through a wholesale network that incorporates broadband with national satellite coverage, LightSquared said in an email to The Wire Report that SkyTerra 1 is the company’s first satellite. It was designed to support wireless services and operates on a 702 HP platform specifically designed for mobile services. According to LightSquared’s website, the company intends to build 40,000 terrestrial base stations supported by the satellite. With a wholesale-only business model, the company says customers that do not have their own wireless network and have limited geographic coverage or spectrum can market and sell their own products through the LightSquared network at a “competitive” price. Audrey Fix Schaefer, a spokeswoman from LightSquared, said in an email that equipment manufacturers of devices like laptops, tablets, or cameras can embed a LightSquared chip in their products to give consumers mobile access to the 4G network. “Some of our customers will be wireless carriers, some will be wire line companies, and some could be cable companies. They’re all going to set a price based on what their customers need.” Fix Schaefer wrote that the company is developing a “completely open network” to encourage partners develop their own devices, applications and services. She said manufacturers can “launch innovative and integrated devices, bundled with content and broadband service, while ensuring full ownership of their customer relationships.” Fix Schaefer added that LightSquared’s wholesale wireless broadband network will accommodate mobile wireless devices by 2012. “By connecting to the LightSquared network, Smartphones will be able to access an array of applications and services previously unavailable on a hand-held mobile device, including streaming high-definition video,” she said. Plans are also under way for the development of products such as data cards, embedded modems and routers to connect WiFi-enabled devices, such notebooks, to the LTE-satellite network, Fix Schaefer said. Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) counsel John Lawford said that LightSquared’s broadband and satellite coverage model should be embraced. “It’s a lot quicker than building out wire line Internet access in a lot of areas,” Lawford said in an interview. “It’s very sensible to do satellite towards a fixed wireless station in a lot of locations.” Lawford also said that the type of service might lower consumer costs because it is offered in a wholesale format. Unlike most satellite services currently offered in Canada, there would be no satellite dish costs to pay. “Since we’re a wholesaler, we don’t set prices,” Fix Schaefer said. “Our customers will.” The broadband proposal is receiving some opposition in the U.S. A Washington-based group called the Coalition to Save our GPS is strongly opposing the LightSquared plan, asking American regulators to slow down the company’s rollout. Dale Leibach, a spokesman for the coalition, said in an interview that the risk of LightSquared’s plan lies in its establishment of 40,000 terrestrial-based stations. Leibach said the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) approval of the plan would allow very powerful ground-based transmitters could interfere with low-powered GPS signals. “The 40,000 satellite-to-ground stations and the radio signal that would go to those stations is one billion times more powerful when received on Earth on these ground stations than the GPS signals,” Leibach said. “That’s where the potential for severe interference lies.” Leibach said the ground-based transmitters would be spread across the U.S. and concentrated in urban areas, and that, due to their superior signal strength, GPS dead zones could be created that are several miles in diameter and several miles high. “Imagine trying to land a plane and you hit a dead zone where your GPS doesn’t work,” Leibach said. The coalition has also expressed concern for residents of Nova Scotia, saying that thousands of GPS users’ signals could be affected if they travel within or near the U.S. by land, sea or air. But Marc Choma, communications director with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, said existing wireless carriers in Canada that operate next-generation wireless broadband services are terrestrial-based and are not using satellite spectrum. “The present Canadian services available are therefore not likely to be affected,” said Choma in an interview. LightSquared says it has been working collaboratively with the FCC’s executive branch and the GPS community since 2003 to make sure the broadband services and GPS can co-exist. Fix Schaefer said that, at the request of the FCC, a technical working group has been formed, which is submitting monthly reports to the FCC documenting its progress. She said the company hopes its broadband access will be available to 92 per cent of the U.S. by 2015. Canadian satellite provider Barrett Xplore Inc. is also deploying a satellite broadband 4G network. Barrett said in a release in February that it will continue to deploy its new network across Canada, and that it expects to have 4G service available nationwide by the end of next year. Although Barrett’s business model focuses on consumer broadband sales, it is expected that wholesale services could be an option for the company down the road. dgrenier@thewirereport.ca

LightSquared plans to make wholesale satellite broadband available to 92% of U.S.

News | 05/10/2011 10:25 pm EDT

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