LightSquared, the emerging wholesale high-speed wireless operator, has announced an agreement with a new company that will offer mobile services supporting such data as vehicle maintenance diagnostics and location-sharing for automobiles.
Under the agreement with LightSquared, Smarter Car will sell devices and connectivity to automobile dealerships, and the dealerships will offer the mobile services to customers purchasing new cars.
"The Smarter Car device will attach to an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD)-specified port, and using LightSquared’s 4G-LTE network, will allow drivers and dealerships to use smart phones, tablets or PCs to access and analyze a variety of data about the car," LightSquared said.
LightSquared cannot operate a high-speed network until it placates concerns at the Federal Communications Commission regarding interference that its network could cause to GPS devices.
"We have already solved the problem on our own for the vast majority of GPS users by moving to new frequencies," and the company has invested more than $150 million to find solutions to GPS interference, wrote Martin Harriman, LightSquared' executive vice president of ecosystem development and satellite business, in a blog last month.
Last week Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, reaffirmed a commitment to hold up the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai to the Federal Communications Commission unless the FCC releases specific information about LightSquared, The National Journal reported.
"The FCC hasn’t made any move to provide the information. As a result, my intention to place a hold on the FCC nominees, should they reach the floor, stands," The National Journal quoted Grassley as saying in a statement.
