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Friday, September 23, 2011

Is LightSquared More Politics Than Capitalism

Politics exists everywhere, not just in Government. Favors are done, cronyism is established, and greed sometimes gets in the way of honest work. So one has to wonder, is LightSquared truly an opportunity for a new player to help balance the power and increase competition in the wireless and broadband industry, or is there more than meets the eye.

From today's column in the NY Post, to this article in Multichannel, it seems that personal gain over mainstream interests could possibly be at stake.

Can LightSquared be a low cost alternative to the current players or will it be so only by interfering with current GPS signals? And if they can't fix the problem, are we being told a fairy tale? That politics is leading this process is the most troublesome. It reeks of greed and may benefit few over the many. Can LightSquared truly overcome the GPS issue or is it being fast tracked to help put money into political hands? I naively hope it is the former. I'd hate to see greed cause poor long term judgment.

Competition is a good thing. If not LightSquared, there are other ways to enhance competition in the broadband industry. Perhaps the Government can incent the utilities to build out their infrastructure to offer a broadband piece. Would the electric, gas, and water companies have an interest? Job creation, economic stimulus, and more choice.