ASRI and the wider aviation community believe the FCC’s unfortunate decision to grant Ligado’s modification applications, despite the license conditions adopted, will create lasting damage to GPS and SATCOM systems relied upon by all aviation users, including, not least, the traveling public. The action by FCC overlooks key concerns that have been documented and supported with expert studies and opinions from government users and industry for several years. The FCC conditions do not do enough to mitigate the potential for damage to a number of industries crucial to US economic output. In this example, the stated objective of repurposing small amount of spectrum to support 5G and IoT compared to mid-band spectrum recently made available makes little sense given the overwhelming opposition from pilots, aerospace engineers, GPS manufacturers, airlines, defense manufacturers, satellite operators, and automobile manufacturers, not to mention the outspoken concerns of relevant expert federal agencies, including FAA, DOT, DOD, and DHS, whose spectrum use will be adversely impacted.

Statement, May 6, 2020