Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 4–0 to advance a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) titled Promoting the Development of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Technologies and Solutions. The FCC’s unanimous vote marks a pivotal step toward strengthening GPS resiliency. Backed by bipartisan and public support, the new Notice of Inquiry advances efforts to develop terrestrial PNT solutions that add critical redundancy to our nation’s infrastructure.
After the announcement, NextNav released the following statement from CEO Mariam Sorond:
NextNav commends Chairman Carr and the FCC for their leadership and swift action to strengthen GPS resiliency. Today’s bipartisan vote on the Notice of Inquiry demonstrates a clear recognition of the urgent national security and public safety need for a more resilient Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) infrastructure. We applaud the Commission’s engagement with stakeholders across government and industry and its commitment to a “system of systems” approach that includes both space- and terrestrial-based technologies to build redundancy into America’s critical infrastructure.
At NextNav, we’re committed to being part of the solution. Leveraging low-band spectrum in the band where NextNav already holds extensive licenses, our approach provides terrestrial backup to GPS that harnesses the power and scale of 5G—without requiring taxpayer funding. As a leader in PNT innovation, we’re looking forward to working closely with the Chairman, Commissioners, and broader stakeholder community to accelerate the deployment of resilient, complementary technologies that build important redundancies into a system we rely on every day.