LightSquared vs. GPS politics: Improper influence?

Senator Chuck Grassley says that LightSquared and others may be trying to nobble his investigations. He's looking into LightSquared's plan to transmit high powered signals next to low power GPS signals. He wrote an letter expressing his unhappiness about things said by LightSquared founder Philip Falcone and Fine Point Technologies CEO Todd Ruelle. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers break out the popcorn.
 
Your humble blogwatcher (@richi ) curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Six months in the sun...
 
 
Stephen Lawson reports:

Grassley, a leading opponent of [the plan] to operate a cellular network..next to GPS spectrum, said that LightSquared founder..Falcone wrote..that a LightSquared approval could be a "win" for Grassley [and that] Ruelle suggested a call center might be built in Iowa.
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LightSquared faces stiff opposition to its plan for an LTE..network because tests have shown likely interference [with]..GPS. The ultimate decision..resides with the [FCC], which has said it won't grant approval unless interference concerns are put to rest.
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Grassley..believes..Harbinger Capital Partners, the Falcone-led hedge fund that owns LightSquared..may have used improper influence..to quickly gain an FCC waiver that brought LightSquared closer to approval.   

 
Todd Shields adds:

Grassley said..that Falcone..and a telecommunications executive implied that they wanted the lawmaker to “pull punches.” .. “I won’t be part of that,” Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said.
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Grassley is reviewing whether authorities improperly accelerated the..company’s partial approval last year. .. GPS makers say LightSquared inappropriately plans to send powerful..signals on airwaves reserved mainly for faint emissions from satellites. .. LightSquared has said GPS manufacturers should have planned to accommodate the company’s use of the airwaves.
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The argument has sparked heightened [lobbying] spending by both sides.   

   
Richi Jennings offers technical background and opinion:

LightSquared was dead wrong to assume it could use those frequencies without stomping all over GPS. .. And this is important, because GPS [is] critical infrastructure.
..
Here's the thing: If you transmit a signal on a radio carrier frequency close to the civilian GPS 1.57542 GHz frequency, you will cause [interference]. .. [In] the analog world, the actual bandwidth of a signal is infinite. .. This isn't normally a problem..[but] in this case..the LightSquared terrestrial power is..a million times stronger than..GPS.
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The frequency was originally licensed [for] satellite transmissions. And..that's all it can legitimately be used for.   

And Kevin Roose has chapter and verse:

On Monday, Mr. Grassley struck again..writ[ing]:

On January 6..a member of my staff who is investigating the..FCC decision to grant a waiver to LightSquared..received a phone call from Mr. Todd Ruelle of Fine Point Technologies [who] indicated that he “only gets paid if this deal goes through”..“there will be a call center in the Midwest, possibly in Iowa.” .. This statement is of particular concern in light of your e-mail..which read in part..“I believe I can make this into a win for the Senator, Lightsquared and the consumer.”
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[The] statements implied an invitation to pull punches in my investigation. ...

“Mr. Ruelle [has never] worked for Mr. Falcone, Harbinger or LightSquared”..Harbinger said..in response to Mr. Grassley. .. “No one at Harbinger or LightSquared has had any discussions..with Mr. Ruelle with respect to..contacting Senator Grassley’s office regarding an alleged quid pro quo. .. If such conversations occurred, Mr. Ruelle was acting entirely on his own.

”   

Meanwhile, Andrew Malcolm points the finger of fairness to the left:

Obama also says he wants.."everybody [to play] by the same set of rules." Yet time after time he's created..one [rule] for well-connected Democrats and one for the rest of the country.
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Falcone is a top Democratic party donor [who] managed to get an unusual FCC waiver despite evidence that [it] would interfere with..GPS.
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If this is.."playing by the same set of rules," we are in real trouble should [Obama] win a second term.   

  
And Finally...
Six months in the sun
  
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's the creator and main author of Computerworld's IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.