FCC withdraws preliminary approval of LightSquared

Since last April, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for documents related to the agency's decision to fast-track the LightSquared broadband wireless project, despite concerns of widespread interference with global-positioning system devices.  The agency has refused to provide any documents.  Now, the FCC is withdrawing the preliminary approval it gave to LightSquared because of interference with GPS devices.  Grassley made the following comment on his inquiry.

"The FCC's action seems to acknowledge the point I've been making since April.  Prematurely granting a conditional waiver in a rushed process is not the way to get the right result.  Now that the interference issue is settled, we need to find out more than ever why the FCC did what it did.  The agency put this project on a fast track for approval with what appears to have been completely inadequate technical research.  After all of this time and expense, still, no one outside of the agency knows why.  That's not the way the people's government should work.  The public's business ought to be public.  Now that the FCC has backtracked on LightSquared, I'd like to see my Senate colleagues join my document request, especially the chairman of the only Senate committee that the FCC is willing to answer.  If we don't find out how and why the FCC failed to avoid this controversy, then it will keep operating as a closed shop instead of the open, publicly accountable agency it should be."