LightSquared announces 'solution' for GPS issue, says LTE network will roll out on schedule

LightSquared may have steadfastly insisted otherwise, but recent tests showing that its wholesale 4G LTE network interferes with GPS have been getting tough for it to ignore, and it turns out the company has been quietly working on a backup plan. In addition to fessing up that one of the 10MHz blocks used by its network does indeed interfere with many GPS receivers, LightSquared has also now announced a two-fold "solution" to the problem. That will involve it using only a lower block of the 10MHz spectrum that it says doesn't interfere with GPS (with a few "limited" exceptions), and a new agreement with Inmarsat that LightSquared says will let it "accelerate the schedule" to begin using the alternative block of spectrum. Those new measures, LightSquared says, will let it roll out its network in accordance with its original business plan, and give it enough spectrum to serve its customers for the "next several years." What happens after that is a bit less clear, but LightSquared says it believes its network can "live harmoniously, side-by-side, with GPS users," and that "enlightened and responsible spectrum management will give the American public the best of both worlds." The company's full press release is after the break.

[Thanks, Nick]