WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Communications Commission late Tuesday voted 3-2 to reject a bid by U.S. government agencies to freeze its decision to allow Ligado Networks to deploy a nationwide network.
In May, the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration filed a request with the FCC on behalf of executive branch agencies, including the Defense and Transportation departments, arguing the commission’s approval would cause “irreparable harms to federal government users” of global positioning systems (GPS).
The FCC said Ligado’s deployment plans are not finalized and it is in talks with U.S. agencies about the network’s potential impact on government GPS systems. The decision came a day before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
