Lightsquared, the company whose PR department spends all day sending me emails, is set to announce the results of some new and favorable research today. The company has been trying for quite a while to build out a new wireless network that would rely on a hybrid of terrestrial towers and satellite technology but there have been a lot of concerns, especially among GPS manufacturers, that the bandwidth Lightsquared would use would interfere with current signals. Today’s announcement is chock full o’ former politicians who have turned lobbyists: Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, and former Arkansas Senator Tim Hutchinson. Rendell and Dorgan are Democrats, Hutchinson a Republican. Hutchinson’s presence is evidently not placating Republicans who, according to Hillicon Valley, are up in arms over Lightsquared:
Republican lawmakers have questioned whether the White House and the FCC have shown inappropriate favoritism towards LightSquared during the regulatory review. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has threatened to block President Obama’s two FCC nominees unless the agency releases internal documents related to its review of LightSquared.
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