Federal Communications Commission	FCC 20-48


JOINT STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONERS JESSICA ROSENWORCEL AND GEOFFREY STARKS,
CONCURRING

Re:	LightSquared Technical Working Group Report, IB Docket No. 11-109; LightSquared 
License Modification Application, IBFS Files Nos. SAT-MOD-20120928-00160-00161, 
SES-MOD-20121001-00872, IB Docket No. 12-340; New LightSquared License 
Modification Applications, IBFS File Nos. SES-MOD-20151231-00981, SAT-MOD-
20151231-00090, SAT-MOD-20151231-00091, IB Docket Nos. 11-109, 12-340; Ligado 
Amendment to License Modification Applications, IBFS File Nos. SES-MOD-20151231-
00981, SAT-MOD-20151231-00090, SAT-MOD-20151231-00091, IB Docket No. 11-
109. 

This decision was an extremely close call.  While many stakeholders now back the ancillary terrestrial service that is the subject of this order, others remain concerned about the potential for harmful interference.  In the end we are compelled to support the expert technical analysis done by the Federal Communications Commission’s engineering staff.  However, we choose to concur because this process has exposed a fault line in spectrum decision-making.  You don’t have to take our word for it – House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone and Ranking Member Greg Walden jointly cited this matter as an example of “recent federal spectrum management process breakdowns.” 	Letter from Frank Pallone, Chairman and Greg Walden, Ranking Member, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, to the Honorable Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the U.S. (Jan. 24, 2020) (requesting “an updated review of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) federal spectrum management processes, how federal spectrum users interact with the NTIA and the [FCC, and] how the NTIA and FCC interact with each other”).
  As we move to the next generation of wireless service, it is imperative that we have an improved inter-agency system and a stronger whole-of-government approach to our 5G effort.


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