Top officials at the Defense and Transportation departments sharply criticized the Federal Communications Commission for giving the go-ahead for a new hybrid cellular and satellite network that could interfere with Global Positioning System navigation and timing elements. FCC failed to consider sufficient input from federal stakeholders, they said. In addition, Deere and Co., which manufactures farm and construction equipment, told FCC the network planned by Reston, Va.-based LightSquared could cause “devastating interference” to the GPS systems it has developed for precision farming. Those systems reduce the cost of food production in the United States by as much as $3 billion a year, the company said. Read more
