LightSquared has called on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to help it resolve the long-running dispute with GPS companies that ultimately led to its 2012 bankruptcy filing.
In a letter sent on Friday to the regulator that was made public earlier this w eek, LightSquared counsel Gerard Waldron detailed a recent meeting between LightSquared CEO Doug Smith and Philip Verveer, counsellor to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.
During the meeting, Smith said when LightSquared emerges from Chapter 11 it wants to put its spectrum "into the wireless industry’s arsenal and needs Commission permission to invest in the network to do so."
In February 2012, the FCC withdrew its support for LightSquared’s proposal to build a combined satellite and terrestrial LTE network and operate it on a wholesale basis following complaints from GPS providers Deere, Garmin and Trimble that the network would interfere with their signals.
Without a network, LightSquared had no business, and it filed for Chapter 11 in May that year. In 2013, the company sued the GPS firms for not disclosing the interference issues earlier; the lawsuit is ongoing.
In March 2015, LightSquared won court approval for a restructuring plan that will allow it to exit Chapter 11 under the control of equity firms Centerbridge Partners and Fortress Investment Group.
At its recent meeting with the FCC, LightSquared’s Smith said he was certain he could "reach a reasonable business compromise" with the GPS firms "if they were so motivated."
LightSquared has hired consultancy firm Dennis Roberson & Associates to draw up a compromise plan, and has asked the FCC to help it obtain information, such as the receiver design used by the GPS firms, and the specific details of the GPS firms’ commercial concerns regarding LightSquared’s proposed network.
LightSquared also asked the FCC to facilitate a meeting between LightSquared and "decision-making personnel" from the GPS firms so they can "discuss in-depth the entire range of issues…including resolution of the litigation."
