LightSquared Blasts FCC Over "Bureaucratic Irresponsibility"

LightSquared has accused the FCC of "the height of bureaucratic irresponsibility" and of being the puppet of scheming politicians, as the company sees its 4G aspirations rapidly fade. Responding officially to the FCC ruling against the LightSquared's LTE plans earlier this week, the injured company argued that US government toadying to the GPS lobby damaged not only its own business but harmed "the American public."

"Typically, when America has faced a challenge, the private and public sectors join together to help solve these problems to better serve this country" LightSquared wrote in a statement. "Unfortunately, with its action yesterday, the FCC has harmed not only LightSquared, but also the American public by making it impossible to build out a system that would meet public policy goals of successive administrations."

As the company sees it, the US government insisted that it build out a wireless broadband network back in 2010. "At the government's mandate, LightSquared began investing billions of dollars in America's infrastructure" it says, "without asking for any money from the American taxpayer."

All that changed when the spectrum LightSquared has been intending to use was deemed to potentially interfere with GPS, something the FCC decided was too dangerous to risk. The company now faces the challenge of either finding a new revenue stream to tide it over as it attempts further legal action, or the vague possibility of swapping its spectrum with bands used by the Defense Department.