LightSquared Inc. is calling for a government investigation into a leak of test results that indicated its planned wireless service caused interference with global-positioning system receivers. Testing conducted Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 indicated that LightSquared’s service caused interference with 75 percent of GPS receivers, Bloomberg News reported Dec. 9, citing a draft summary of the results.
“The information leaked on Friday, December 9, 2011 was preliminary, incomplete and did not represent the full findings from the test results,” LightSquared Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Ahuja said in a letter to officials at the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation.
He asked the departments to “refer this matter for an immediate investigation to determine the circumstances of this leak.”
Reston-based LightSquared, backed by $3 billion from Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund, has proposed offering high-speed mobile Internet service to as many as 260 million people using 40,000 base stations. The service would operate on airwaves formerly reserved mainly for satellites, and near those used by GPS devices. — Bloomberg
