House to hold hearing on FCC's role in granting LightSquared waiver

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Sept. 21 on the FCC's role in granting a conditional waiver for LightSquared to launch terrestrial service on its network. The committee, which launched an investigation into the matter earlier this year, has not said which witnesses will be called to testify. The hearing, titled "The LightSquared network: An investigation of the FCC's role," will look at whether the FCC followed its own policies, procedures and precedents, according to a statement from the committee. In February the FCC revoked the waiver for LightSquared to build a wholesale LTE network due to GPS interference concerns related to the 1.6 GHz L-band spectrum that LightSquared intended to employ, a move that subsequently forced LightSquared into bankruptcy. LightSquared has disputed the studies that were used to show that GPS interference existed, and alleged that the tests were biased against the company. The conditional waiver to launch terrestrial service on the spectrum was always contingent on LightSquared resolving GPS interference concerns, but the Republicans have questioned how LightSquared got so far along in the regulatory process. Article