Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said on July 28 that he has placed a hold on the nomination of Mike O’Rielly to become the commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the FCC’s decision in April to approve a modification of Ligado Networks‘ L-band license to allow the creation of 5G infrastructure.
“I am holding Commissioner O’Rielly’s nomination until he publically states that he will vote to overturn the current Ligado Order,” Inhofe said in a statement. “I understand that O’Rielly has stated that he would give ‘due consideration to a stay’ ‘based on new data or evidence’ – but that isn’t enough. This isn’t just about our military, but all users of GPS are united in opposition…I need his commitment in plain English to vote to overturn the order, not just consider it, before I will allow his nomination to proceed.”
Top U.S. Air Force and Space Force have been examining ways to mitigate potential interference with GPS receivers that could emerge from the FCC’s April decision (Defense Daily, April 22).
Two days after the FCC approved Ligado’s application to build a new low-power terrestrial network for nationwide 5G, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein reiterated that he was “very concerned” about the decision and how the new network could potentially block GPS signals.
“Over the past few months, I have sent letters, held hearings and called countless officials to highlight what we all know to be true: the FCC’s Ligado Order is flawed and will lead to significant harm to our military and the thousands of individuals and businesses that rely on GPS,” Inhofe said in his July 28 statement. “The Trump administration understands this and has urged the FCC to reconsider the Ligado Order.”
The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the fiscal 2021 defense authorization bill proposes that Ligado pay for mitigating potential interference with GPS (Defense Daily, May 6).
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), ranking member on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, sponsored the HASC proposal that would block the Pentagon from using funds to “retrofit any GPS device or system, or network in order to mitigate interference from commercial terrestrial operations,” specifically citing the spectrum band space that Ligado plans to operate its new network.
Lawmakers and senior Pentagon officials have opposed the FCC’s decision, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the move could “could disrupt GPS signals relied upon by our military and millions of Americans” (Defense Daily, May 5).
Turner cited a May 21 letter from Ligado to HASC affirming its commitment to “bear the costs to DoD for mitigating any interference caused by their network” and stating the “FCC directed Ligado to provide protections to GPS devices using its spectrum.”
‘‘Make no mistake: the obligation is ours, and the burden falls solely on our company,” Ligado officials wrote in the letter.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s defense authorization bill has a similar provision prohibiting the use of Pentagon funds to comply with the FCC’s order until an assessment is conducted on the risks to GPS signals (Defense Daily, June 12).