By DAVID BROOKS
Staff Writer
A shortage of something that to a certain extent doesn't even exist -- the broadcast spectrum -- is contributing to a clash between efforts to improve Internet coverage in New Hampshire's rural areas and the need to keep the Global Positioning System operating accurately.
"In a vacuum this makes sense; it's a good idea," said U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass at a Wednesday press conference about the issue held at Concord Airport, partly because private pilots like Bass depend on GPS to fly safely. "Any possibility of harm to GPS is too great to go forward until we're certain there won't be a problem."
At issue is a plan by a new company called LightSquared, which wants to create a national wholesale wireless Internet and 4G phone network by bouncing signals between satellites and among 40,000 towers on the ground, using a portion of the spectrum known as the L Band. The firm says this service, a type called LTE, would allow it to spread broadband Internet service to places where it hasn't been economical to build wires, such as parts of the Monadnock region and the state's North Country.
The problem is that the LightSquared signals are in a portion of the airwaves adjacent to the frequencies used by satellites to send signals to GPS devices.
A growing number of industry and law enforcement officials expressed concern that because LightSquared wants to use much more power than the band was originally conceived for, its signals will bleed into, or even overwhelm GPS signals.
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Bass is one of a number of federal lawmakers trying to get the FCC to halt the waiver that was given to LightSquared in January, allowing it to -- in Bass' words -- take spectrum designed for use in orbit and also use it on the ground. He thinks FCC should hold more hearings.
"The problem is, we don't know what it would do," Bass said. "The FCC should not be passing judgment on this plan. It would be irresponsible to go forward without more testing and study."
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