Broadband network jams GPS signals

LightSquared's multi-million-dollar broadband network ambitions could be derailed, after a government agency said the network blocked GPS signals, according to PC Mag.

The national executive committee for space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) says LightSquared's broadband wireless transmitters jam GPS receivers crucial to aircraft navigation systems.

The Wall Street Journal writes that LightSquared's airwaves are located close to the airwaves used by GPS receivers, which can be overpowered by the wireless start-up's signals.

“It will cause interference. It will cause devastating interference,” says James Kirkland, VP and general counsel of Trimble Navigation, a GPS maker.

“There is not a solution here. In our view it's time to stop squandering resources on this and find alternative spectrum for them.”

Tech News World reports that the proposed wireless network is supposed to be the fastest way yet to access a broadband network.

Approved in January by the Federal Communications Commission, the network was intended to be a 4G network that could compete with the ever-growing marketplace of speedy networks rolled out by companies like AT&T and Verizon.