The following statement may be attributed to Free State Foundation Director of Policy Studies and Senior Fellow Seth Cooper:
Documents from 2013 that recently have gained notice cast doubt on the validity of the Department of Defense and Department of Commerce's opposition to Ligado Network's use of L-Band spectrum for commercial wireless services. A July 2013 memo signed by Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Commerce Department, and NASA shows that at that time those federal agencies had no serious reservations about prospective use of L-Band spectrum by Ligado's predecessor, Lightsquared. An October 2013 email from a Department of Defense official also indicates that those federal agencies were generally in favor of L-Band spectrum being used for commercial wireless services. This history undercuts those federal agencies' present pushback against Ligado's network, which will operate at significantly reduced power levels compared to what Lightsquared proposed, and subject to FCC-enforceable safeguards. The FCC's 2020 order that authorized Ligado to operate in the L-Band was based on careful technical analysis, and the agency documents from 2013 bolster the case for the Commission to reject any reconsideration of that order.
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