Aviation advocates, as well as others outside the aviation industry, are calling for the FCC to take a closer look at claims made by Ligado Networks regarding a key mitigation to reduce the potential for interference with GPS signals.
In April 2020, the FCC issued its controversial “Ligado Order” approving a high-speed broadband cellular network that aviation advocates assert has been proven to interfere with GPS and satellite communications networks, according to officials with the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).
Among the order’s requirements was for Ligado to market by Sept. 30, 2024, a dual-mode mobile satellite service/ancillary terrestrial component (MSS/ATC) device able to switch between satellite and ground-based cellular networks that are less likely to interfere with GPS.
Ligado claimed such a device was available in an October 2024 statement to the FCC. However, aviation advocates assert no such device appears ready to purchase in a Dec. 13, 2024, letter to FCC Secretary Marlene Dortch.
“A review of the commission’s equipment authorizations in the commission’s EAS database and public Internet searches failed to identify examples of any certified dual-mode equipment or devices available for purchase or lease in the marketplace that operate on the frequencies which Ligado is authorized to use for ATC operations or that match Ligado’s description of the device,” the letter stated.
Even if such a system was available, the letter notes that “the mere existence of a certified device does not necessarily mean that the device was ‘available in the marketplace’ by the deadline…raising questions regarding whether the equipment exists and impairing the ability of interested parties to ascertain Ligado’s actual compliance with the Ligado Order.”
The letter calls on the FCC “to require Ligado to publicly identify the relevant equipment authorization for the dual-mode equipment and provide details of the manner in which the equipment has been offered for sale or lease.”
Meanwhile, NBAA and other aviation advocates continue to call on the FCC to vacate the Ligado Order.
In a letter sent earlier in 2024 to President Joe Biden and members of Congress, NBAA officials cited “unified and unprecedented opposition to the order from the federal government, including 14 federal agencies and departments.”
