On the two-year anniversary of the Federal Communications Commission’s Ligado Order (released April 22, 2020) when eight petitions for reconsideration of the Order remain pending, the Aircraft Electronics Association joined a broad coalition of nearly 100 organizations urging President Joe Biden’s administration and Congress to work with the FCC to ultimately set aside the flawed Ligado Order that, if left in place, would upend decades of sound spectrum policy, negatively impact a significant cross-section of commercial, federal, and academic users who rely on the many different L-band satellite services, and threaten the safety of most Americans.
On April 25, 2022, multiple groups representing various constituencies across the American economy signed letters to President Biden and congressional leaders in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
Both letters stated, in part: “Staying the Order is necessitated by the clear bipartisan will of Congress. In consecutive years after the adoption of the Order, Congress mandated an independent technical review to further assess the harmful interference that would be caused by Ligado’s proposed network and required the Department of Defense to brief federal representatives across the government ‘at the highest level of classification’ on the potential for widespread harm from Ligado’s proposed terrestrial operations. On this basis alone, the FCC should stay the Order to adequately consider the material new information that will be uncovered as a result of these ongoing Congressionally-mandated processes.
“The FCC must also stay the Order to address the imminent harm implicated by Ligado’s recent announcement that it intends to deploy as soon as Sept. 30, 2022 – well before it appears the FCC may address the petitions for reconsideration – and in light of the full record before the agency. The record convincingly demonstrates that the Order is legally and factually deficient, and the potential for harm grows closer on a daily basis, but the FCC may not have the additional information regarding the full extent of harmful interference in advance of Ligado's planned launch.”
To read the letter sent to President Biden, click here.
To read the letter sent to congressional leaders, click here.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact Ric Peri, AEA vice president of government and industry affairs, by email at ricp@aea.net or by phone at 202-589-1144.