Falcone on FCC LightSquared Decision: "There Are Solutions to This Problem"

Harbinger Capital CEO says FCC's decision jeopardizes private enterprise, jobs and telecom investment

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/15/2012 7:20:02 PM

Philip Falcone, CEO of LightSquared owner Harbinger Capital, was not striking the flag Wednesday.
 
Even after the FCC moved Tuesday to reverse LightSquared's waiver and put an indefinite hold on its planned wholesale wireless broadband net, Falcone said there were solutions to GPS-related issues that would allow the service to go forward, "if rational public policy prevails."
 
He left no doubt he did not believe it had done so to date. "I made this multibillion dollar investment in LightSquared in reliance on FCC's stated conditions for our receiving a license. Today's Public Notice by the FCC not only disregards this decade-old regulatory order but also reverses a policy adopted by Republican leadership in 2005. In doing so, it jeopardizes private enterprise, jobs and telecom investment in America's future."
 
He said the FCC's decision was not based on science or technology but on "a politically motivated decision fueled by special interest groups in the GPS and telecom industry."
 
The FCC made its decision after the National Telecommunications & Information Administration advised it that, based on its review of GPS receiver interference tests, there was no way for LightSquared's service to proceed without causing interference to GPS. The FCC had always conditioned the waiver on resolving those interference issues, but saw no way to approve a network FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski had hoped would create price and service competition to incumbent mobile carriers like AT&T and Verizon.