By Telecom Lead Team: LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja has
urged FCC to change its stand that affected the company’s $4 billion investment
in telecom networks.
Telecom Lead is reproducing the LightSquared’s letter
sent to FCC:
For more than a decade, LightSquared and its predecessor
companies have worked to bring a private sector solution to a public problem –
expanding wireless broadband connectivity to every corner of this country – and
in doing so, encouraging economic development, increasing competition and
lowering prices for American consumers.
Recognizing that America was not keeping pace with the
rest of the world with respect to wireless innovation, the United States
government encouraged, and in our case, mandated investment from the private
sector to help solve this problem. They did this to help ensure that we
no longer lose ground to global competitors and fall behind in a technology
crucial for creating jobs and growing economies in the 21st
century.
Typically, when America has faced a challenge, the
private and public sectors join together to help solve these problems to better
serve this country. 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.
Today, we ask the FCC to restore American values of rule
of law and regulatory certainty to help America maintain its place as a global
leader in both public safety and economic development.
After years of receiving regulatory approvals, the FCC
approved LightSquared to build its ground network in 2005. In 2010, the
FCC amended that plan, requiring LightSquared to build a national broadband
network that reached 260 million Americans. At the government’s mandate,
LightSquared began investing billions of dollars in America’s infrastructure
without asking for any money from the American taxpayer. Yesterday, after
LightSquared had already spent nearly $4 billion, the FCC changed its
mind. There can be no more devastating blow to private industry and
confidence in the consistency of the FCC’s decision-making process.
It is not surprising that, as with all innovative new
technologies, scientific concerns became an issue. In this case, the
government decided to choose winners and losers. Politicians, rather than
engineers and scientists, dictated the solution to the problem from Washington.
To leave this problem unresolved is the height of
bureaucratic irresponsibility and undermines the very principles that once made
America the best place in the world to do business. We remain committed
to finding a solution and believe that if all the parties have that same level
of commitment, a solution can be found. The American people send
their representatives to Washington to solve tough problems and make our
country better not to undermine and pull the rug from under private
enterprise.
