LightSquared and Sprint Meet Opposition from US Department of Agriculture

While T-Mobile petitions the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mandate interoperability on the 700MHz band to open the door for themselves and other competitors in 4G LTE devices, Sprint is taking a different tactic in their partnership with LightSquared, an organization that hopes to change broadband access in America by constructing what they call an, “open wireless broadband network” that would immediately level the playing field among the wireless carriers.

T-Mobile is working toward a short-term solution, hoping the FCC will mandate that AT&T and Verizon cannot cordon off entire chunks of the broadband spectrum exclusively for their own devices. Sprint and LightSquared on the other hand are hoping to leapfrog the two power carriers by constructing a network that would run parallel and, they believe, surpass existing LTE systems. T-Mobile wants the government to make Verizon and AT&T let them play in the pool, but Sprint and LightSquared are building their own pool.

But LightSquared and Sprint have not escaped the FCC’s notice. Opposition is coming from the United States Agriculture industry, an unlikely source. The American Soybean Association (ASA) has declared that the precision GPS technology used by farmers and agribusinesses in all 50 states would be harmed by the LightSquared plan to launch an open wireless broadband network.

GPS is used by farmers in a wide variety of ways to make precise decisions about planting, irrigation and crop protection. The ASA stated that their GPS technology has been responsible for the 12 percent uptick in farm production, overall agricultural income in the United States and an improvement in sustainability.

The FCC has not given any indication how they will rule on this issue, but it is situations precisely like this one for which it was formed. The Commission will begin wading through all of the various competing and overlapping interests when they meet again next week.