Government ends LightSquared testing

Beleaguered LTE wholesaler LightSquared does not appear to have many options left after the federal government late last week issued a damning report on its latest round of testing potential interference between the LightSquared network and GPS systems.

Federal officials reportedly said in a letter to LightSquared released last Friday that even modified version of the company's network potentially would cause interference with GPS, and that there appeared to be no solution to the interference problem. Even more detrimental to LightSquared's future could be the government's insistence that there will be no further testing of the network--a statement which did not stop LightSquared from requesting further testing.

LightSquared also fought back by alleging that one of the GPS Advisory Board members considering LightSquared's case has a conflict of interest by also serving on the board of Trimble, one of the companies that is opposed to LightSquared's spectrum plans.

It would not appear that LightSquared has too many bullets left in the chamber. The latest government decision comes after Sprint had already put its partnership with the company into a holding pattern. At some point, LightSquared may want to save one of those bullets for itself.

For more:
- see this BusinessWeek report on the government decision
- read this FierceWireless post on LightSquared's conflict claim

Related articles:
Sprint froze its LightSquared deal last week
LightSquared gained an extension from Sprint last month