NextNav NN -5.81%↓ is disputing what it calls factual inaccuracies in a recent filing by the Security Industry Association concerning the company’s operational 5G position, navigation and timing network in Santa Clara County, Calif. The company filed a response with the Federal Communications Commission seeking to correct what it characterized as misleading statements about the network and its operation.
NextNav said SIA improperly compared different units of measurement in its filing, arguing that the comparison created a misleading impression about the company’s 5G PNT network. The dispute is part of a broader FCC proceeding over NextNav’s proposal to use portions of the lower 900 MHz band for a terrestrial 5G PNT network, an effort that SIA and other security-industry groups have opposed.
NextNav has previously challenged an SIA-sponsored technical study by Pericle Communications Co., saying its modeling assumptions and methodology produced unrealistic estimates of potential interference. In a January filing, NextNav said Pericle’s analysis contained errors in its modeling and Monte Carlo simulation and argued that some of the predicted 5G emission levels exceeded theoretical free-space conditions.
Renee Gregory, NextNav’s senior vice president of regulatory and government affairs, compared SIA’s measurement argument to converting a 12-ounce can of soda into 355 milliliters and then claiming the can contains less because the numerical measurements differ. Gregory said the comparison illustrates what NextNav considers a fundamental problem with SIA’s filing and described the filing, as well as the earlier Pericle study, as false and misleading.
SIA has maintained that NextNav’s proposed use of the lower 900 MHz band could interfere with unlicensed Part 15 devices used in security, public safety, consumer electronics and other applications. The association’s technical study concluded that NextNav’s proposed high-power 5G network could significantly reduce the range and functionality of devices operating in the band, while NextNav has disputed those conclusions and said its own analyses demonstrate that coexistence is possible.
