On May 22, 2020, Lockheed Martin filed a Petition for Reconsideration of the FCC’s Ligado Decision.
They argue:
“The record before the Commission contains extensive evidence, including technical analyses, that demonstrate conclusively that grant of Ligado’s mobile satellite services license modification applications, as amended, and rule waiver, would not serve the public interest. The Order ignores or glosses over this evidence with a limited and dismissive deliberation that appears to have been driven by the agency’s desire to reach a particular outcome. The Order thus contains substantial legal and procedural errors and must be reversed on reconsideration. Specifically, the Commission’s analysis of the voluminous evidentiary record reveals that the Commission failed to engage in the reasoned decision-making mandated by the Administrative Procedure Act.”
- The costs imposed by the Order are understated—if evaluated at all. The Commission failed in any way to quantify the costs that dozens of affected parties will incur when dealing with the impact of Ligado’s operations. For example, even after inappropriately rejecting the 1 dB standard, the Order recognizes that seven of eleven high-precision receivers tested in the Ligado-sponsored reports by Roberson and Associates would be impacted by Ligado’s operations and that only three could be modified to ameliorate the harmful interference.
- The Order’s remedies are not sufficient to offset its costs. The “remedies” the Commission adopts are not sufficient to offset the costs already outlined. As discussed above, the power levels and operating restrictions and out of channel emission limitations adopted by the Order are insufficient to address the harm that Ligado’s operations would have on GPS and services in adjacent bands.
- The Order overstates the benefits of Ligado’s service. Given the Commission’s failure to grapple with the costs that granting the Applications imposes, it is perhaps unsurprising that the Order reflects little effort to evaluate Ligado’s claimed public interest benefits. Over the course of a scant two pages, the Commission readily accepts assertions that do not stand up to even moderate scrutiny.