On November 20, 2020, a letter signed by a number of groups across a wide range of industries was sent to the chairs of the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee. The letter expressed the danger of the Ligado order to the safety of SATCOM services.

In the letter, the groups stated:

“Operators and users of L-band satellite systems have relied on a stable spectrum environment – free from harmful interference – to deploy their networks and conduct their operations Ligado’s proposed terrestrial network would fundamentally put the vital L-band satellite communications services–that in some instances serve as the only way to reach even the most remote regions of the world and are critical to safe aviation– at risk. In addition, the proposed Ligado network would disrupt the reliability of satellite communications services and the many critical applications which rely upon GPS, which has direct implications for safety-of-life in commercial aviation operations, precision farming and irrigation management that have revolutionized the agriculture economy, autonomous ground and air vehicles that will bring a new generation of transportation, precise and actionable weather data that predicts and enables warnings for hurricanes and other life-threatening natural events, and many other applications. Simply put, the Ligado Order failed to take full account of the diverse services in the L-band, including those relied on by military, federal, and public safety users, that would be stranded or significantly impaired (without available alternatives) by the harmful interference caused by Ligado’s proposed terrestrial network.”

Read the letter in full here