Hearing on LightSquared:
The Impact to Small Business GPS Users

House Committee on Small Business
October 12, 2011

Members of Congress facing witness panel

The committee received testimony from industry witnesses examining the impact on small businesses that may result from LightSquared's plan to provide broadband service using its spectrum that is adjacent to or near spectrum utilized by the GPS.

Learn more about LightSquared-GPS interference

The committee chairman said U.S. firms would incur enormous costs if required to replace or retrofit their current GPS devices as a result of LightSquared interference.

Witnesses from the Leesburg Executive Airport Commission, Agricultural Retailers Association, and Aircraft Electronics Association called for more testing to better understand the interference effects.

A LightSquared executive restated his company's offer to cover $50 million in federal precision receiver upgrade costs, but said GPS manufacturers should pay to replace or retrofit commercial user equipment.

Witnesses

  • Mr. Dennis Boykin
    Leesburg Executive Airport Commission
  • Mr. Rick Greene
    Agricultural Retailers Association
  • Mr. Jeffrey Carlisle
    Executive Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy
    LightSquared Subsidiary LLC
  • Mr. Tim Taylor
    Aircraft Electronics Association

Please note that GPS.gov only publishes the written testimony of federal officials. The testimony of private sector witnesses is available via the committee's website.