Where Are We? - GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones - page 178

Having a backlog of satellites ready to go is obviously better than needing sat-
ellites that are not ready, but scheduling payloads on launch vehicles in avail-
able time slots could become an issue. That possibility is lessened because the
Air Force is designing the block iiis to fly aboard either Delta IV or Atlas V
rockets and to be launched in pairs, either together or with other “dual mani-
fest” satellites. 257
More importantly, although the first gps iii satellite will be available for
launch in April 2014, a new ground control system designed specifically for it
will not be ready. Replacing the existing Boeing-built Operational Control Sys-
tem (ocs) with a Raytheon-built next generation Operational Control Segment
(ocx) is about seventeen months behind schedule, and some independent
observers estimate that upgrades required to fully utilize gps iii's advanced
features will not be complete until mid- to late 2017 . 258
ocx is being phased in. The initial phase will provide launch and checkout
capability for gps iii satellites. The second phase will merge command and
control of older satellites and gps iiis, including new civilian signals. The third
phase will accommodate new international and modernized military signals.
The ocx delay has compelled the Air Force to postpone the first gps iii launch
until May 2015, a schedule that depends on no additional problems slowing
ocx development. 259
Homegrown Static
Amid the iif delays, brownout worries, and out-of-sync space and ground seg-
ment upgrades, the gps industry suddenly faced a new challenge. A company
named LightSquared announced plans to build a nationwide 4g mobile broad-
band network using radio spectrum adjacent to the frequencies gps uses. Light-
Squared formed in early 2010, when a New York hedge fund, Harbinger
Capital Partners, acquired mobile satellite service provider SkyTerra. 260 The
fcc had given SkyTerra (under its previous name, Mobile Satellite Ventures)
permission to build an ancillary terrestrial component—cellular ground sta-
tions—to augment coverage where satellite signals do not work well, such as
urban areas. That authorization allowed a maximum of 2,415 ground stations
in the United States. 261 LightSquared conceived a plan to develop a network
of forty thousand ground stations and provide wholesale broadband to wire-
less carriers—making almost the entire nation a Wi-Fi hotspot. It signed an
eight-year, $7 billion deal with Nokia Siemens Networks in July 2010 to build
the network and asked the fcc for approval in November. 262