On the surface, even at this volume, tweets, check-ins, uploaded photos, and Facebook updates seem to be a novelty. But, that ignores the impact these technologies have on culture, commerce, safety, and much more. The revolutionaries taking part in the Arab Spring, the activists of the Occupy Movement, and first responders to catastrophic floods in Thailand all relied on wireless technology to make a difference in 2011. Wireless technology delivers our news, connects us to one another, and coordinates the activities of industries from commercial shipping to public safety to healthcare.

The backbone of nearly everything mobile in 2011 – retweets to revolutions – was wireless spectrum.

Unfortunately, at the same time we see the benefits of wireless broadband fully realized we are facing a spectrum crisis. By 2013, our demand for wireless data will outstrip allocated spectrum in the U.S. Our wireless future is in jeopardy. The very real roll this technology plays in American life, safety, and security will by marked with dropped calls and networks too congested to deliver vital data reliably.

It is no longer reasonable to argue that there are technologies more important to the United States than high-speed wireless data. To meet the growing demand, we need to bring new networks online, hold old technologies to a higher standard, and work together to provide the infrastructure America needs to be more productive and innovative in the 21st century.

For these reasons, we have sent a petition to the FCC asking the Commission to confirm our company’s right to use the spectrum licensed to us by the federal government. The petition does this by asking the Commission to confirm, under their current rules, that GPS devices are not entitled to protection from interference when they look into our band. Should they be protected when they stay in their own lane? Absolutely, but they don’t, even after we provided the GPS industry eight years’ notice that we were going to build a ground network.

What makes that even more remarkable is the fact that, over this period of time, plenty of other companies adapted without increasing costs to consumers. For example, cell phone manufacturers incorporated extremely inexpensive filters into their devices, ensuring that the more than 300 million cell phones in the U.S. are compatible with our network. However, those companies that chose to ignore their obligation to produce robust, fully-filtered equipment are trying to derail our plans to make affordable broadband access ubiquitous in America. How can it be that your cellphone can work but it’s just too much trouble for the companies that build other kinds of GPS receivers?

While we have funded research and development to mitigate any interference, we will not bear the financial burden caused by the GPS industry’s failure to prepare for the deployment of our network, on our licensed spectrum. We don’t believe consumers should bear the cost, either. The GPS industry had almost a decade to prepare. At our own expense, almost $200 million in fact, we were able to develop engineering solutions to mitigate the problem in less than six months. At the same time, GPS companies made no progress on improving their filters and continued to sell the same old equipment to consumers and the government.

LightSquared has made a commitment to bring world-class wireless broadband connectivity to 260 million Americans by 2015 – and to do so by investing $14 billion of private funds in our nation’s broadband infrastructure. Recent government testing confirmed those 300 million GPS-enabled cell phones are compatible with LightSquared’s network. Several top-tier GPS device manufacturers, including Javad GNSS, PCTel and Hemisphere, have also successfully developed and tested filters and antennas that are compatible. The purpose of LightSquared’s petition to the FCC is to make sure everyone has the facts about the science, our mitigation proposals are clearly understood and we all operate within the rule of law — even GPS manufacturers.

In this video, I demonstrate the testing process. You can see a high-precision device made by Javad GNSS completely compatible with LightSquared’s signal. We look forward to conducting similar tests with other device manufacturers that are currently working on compatible devices.

Three examples are Smarter Car, Soundtracker and m-banco, each of which has its own unique reason for working with LightSquared.

SmarterCar plans to use LightSquared’s cellular network – and satellite – to allow consumers and automobile dealers to use in-vehicle devices to access and analyze critical vehicle information, ranging from maintenance updates to location-sharing. Customers of Soundtracker, a geosocial Internet radio company, can now use a mobile product that bundles music and connectivity, giving them access to more than 11 million songs, regardless of location. Meanwhile, the U.S. Latino community, which makes up the customer base of m-banco, can use mobile devices not only for voice communications, but to conduct banking services such as wire transfers and ATM transactions, effectively creating “mobile wallets.”

We’re also helping transform “traditional” device manufacturers so they can participate in the connectivity game; AirTouch and Cellular Product Distributors (CPD-USA) can now bundle their devices with connectivity from LightSquared, creating new recurring revenue streams that are the holy grail for businesses.

What attracted these emerging companies to LightSquared was not only a state-of-the-art 4G wireless network, complemented with ubiquitous satellite coverage, but a game-changing business model that offers connectivity at very competitive wholesale prices, allowing them to efficiently deliver affordable access to content and services. In an increasingly wireless world, LightSquared is delivering on its mission to foster innovation and create much-needed competition in the wireless marketplace.

Earlier this month, I was honored to be a keynote speaker at the 2011 Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco. I joined leaders of other wireless companies, device manufacturers, application developers and online influencers to discuss the future of mobile technology in America and how we, as an industry, can address the current supply vs. demand issue. An audio recording and PDF of my presentation slides are now available online.

If we look at the histories of other industries, we generally see that as a market matures, consumer choices increase. When American automobile manufacturing began, Henry Ford produced just one model of car in one color. Today there are dozens – thousands if you count the many combinations of paint color, upholstery, and built-to-order options.

There is a similar evolution happening in mobile. At first, mobile devices were phones that looked quite similar and did only one thing. Now, there are flip phones, candy bars, and slabs. Many don’t have keys! These devices now use wireless spectrum to email, text, share photos, stream video and provide real-time data through specialty apps. Further, more and more of the hardware that use mobile technology aren’t phones at all. Tablets, emergency equipment in cars, and numerous embedded solutions all compete with the wireless phone calls our mobile network was originally built to support.

The development of new mobile devices and applications will continue. Demands on our wireless network will increase as more Americans become more wired (or unwired, as it were), carrying additional data-hungry devices – and expecting them to work wherever they are.

LightSquared is uniquely positioned to address these issues. Our wholesale 4G-LTE network will provide the additional capacity needed to keep up with the growing demand for mobile data. We’re democratizing wireless access and allowing new types of companies to enter the wireless market – we’ve already announced partnerships with Best Buy, VOIP providers, financial services companies and numerous wire-line companies – creating competition, promoting innovation and ultimately lowering prices.

There are many reasons for lack of high speed Internet use, but the most glaring problem is affordability. While 93 percent of the nation’s wealthiest families are regular broadband users, 46 percent of the nation’s poorest households don’t even have a computer, according to a recent report by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s recent report, Exploring the Digital Nation – Computer and Internet Use at Home.

The report found that broadband use is growing, but at a moderate pace, reaching 68 percent of households, up from 64 percent from a year earlier, the NTIA report said.

One bright spot continues to be rapid growth of wireless broadband access. President Obama has set a goal of boosting wireless broadband coverage to 98 percent of the country within five years. Of course, LightSquared is eager to begin building its network to help President Obama reach his goal.

Currently, fewer than 5 million people in North America depend solely on their mobile devices for broadband access, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index. However, due to the surging popularity of smartphones, mobile devices are expected to be the sole broadband access devices for 55 million people in 2015, according to the Cisco study.

That surge in demand also highlights the need to get more spectrum on the market as soon as possible. Not only are more people going to be using the spectrum, but the devices they use draw much more capacity from the network. Smartphones use 24 times more wireless capacity than a regular handset. Tablets use five times more data than a smartphone and a netbook uses more than twice as much as a tablet on average.

Wireless broadband is the only practical way to successfully increase adoption and eliminate overcrowding on the network. It will also make broadband less expensive and more widely available. The way to do this is with more spectrum; we cannot delay deployment because every neighborhood is crowded.

LightSquared is poised to help ease the spectrum crunch by making new airwaves available. We have committed $14 billion in private investment over the next eight years to build a nationwide wireless broadband network using 4G-LTE technology integrated with satellite coverage. Ours is the only spectrum that can be deployed within the next year, so it is imperative that we reach a conclusion of the review and approval process so that we are able to move forward.

With LightSquared, providing broadband to 98 percent of Americans within the next five years will be a reality.

We have already solved the problem on our own for the vast majority of GPS users by moving to new frequencies. Back in June, we announced we would move our operations as far as possible from GPS. That move resolved the potential interference issue for more than 99 percent of all GPS devices including GPS-enabled cell phones and the navigation system in your car.

But even after our commitment to move to a new spectrum band, there was still a lingering problem with high precision GPS devices which are used in agriculture, surveying and construction. The interference issue with high precision devices is rooted in the GPS industry’s decision to sell devices that depend on crossing into spectrum that is licensed to LightSquared. Even though we’re not responsible for creating the problem, we are working with these companies to solve it.

When LightSquared asked the leading companies in GPS technology to work on the problem, they discovered that they could solve it quickly and cheaply. In just a matter of weeks, Partron developed a $6 component that would eliminate the problem for most high precision receivers. Javad came up with its own LightSquared-compliant receiver and PCTEL built a new antenna that is compatible with our network. These solutions will help the GPS industry make the transition to an environment where LightSquared is deploying its network and provide a path toward future-proofing high precision GPS devices.

So the question really has never been whether or not the interference issue could be solved. The GPS industry knew all along it could. They just didn’t want to pay for their faulty design. LightSquared has already invested more than $150 million in finding solutions to this issue. Now it’s time for the GPS industry to do its part by funding their share of the solution for high precision devices through a standard product recall.

I look forward to sharing more on this issue at the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board Meeting on Wednesday, November 9.

Some of our partners are industry leaders like Sprint and Best Buy, among the most respected large companies in the country. Their decision to join forces with us is evidence that LightSquared’s business model is revolutionizing the wireless industry.

Others are well-known regional companies like Leap Wireless, which has pioneered prepaid wireless plans through its Cricket brand, and Cellular South, the nation’s largest privately owned wireless company. Our best-in-class nationwide network will enable them to not only thrive, but grow as viable competitors to the largest players in the wireless market.

Many of our other partners aren’t household names – but our partnerships with them will be no less transformational. They are small to midsize communications providers, often focused in a geographic area or region. These competitive telecom providers truly are the lifeblood of the industry – and of their communities — because they rely on innovation, entrepreneurial energy and old-fashioned moxie to compete with much larger telecom giants.

Our partners include innovators like AirTouch Communications, which develops patented next-generation, high-performance devices that enhance wireless connectivity and features inside homes and offices; and netTALK, a pioneer in using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to save customers money on phone calls.

Companies such as PowerNet Global, SI Wireless, YourTel America and InterGlobe Communications – to name just a few more – provide families and small business owners with a viable alternative to the telecom behemoths by offering lower prices, customized services, greater choice and personalized customer service.

“In order to stay competitive in our target markets and better serve our customers, we offer wireless services to complement our other communications services. However, we have found this to be a very challenging task, given the extraordinarily dominant position held by a few national carriers,” said PowerNet Global CEO Bernie Stevens in a statement last week. “That’s why we are very excited about our new partnership with LightSquared. Their wholesale model of 4G-LTE network presents our company with the opportunity to enter the wireless marketplace and have a fair chance at winning business. Our partnership with LightSquared will also allow us to offer lower prices, innovative product offerings, and expanded capacity to not only our current markets, but also to rural and underserved markets that are in dire need of these types of services.”

Indeed, small businesses are often overlooked by the largest national telecom companies, who focus their attention on large enterprise customers. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 established competition in local telephone service, spawning the creation of dozens of Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) who began offering an alternative to the Baby Bells who formerly held monopolies in their service areas. Fifteen years later, many CLECs have gone out of business – but those that survived are among the most innovative providers of telecommunications services to small business customers.

LightSquared’s wholesale model will allow these and other companies to expand their wireless broadband service offerings – in some cases, offering wireless for the first time – while also lowering prices. In fact, our innovative low-cost pricing structure will allow our partners to offer significantly lower prices to their customers. Some of our partners’ customers will be able to lower their wireless bills by as much as 50% thanks to our new LightSquared network.

Imagine what that kind of price cut will have not only on healthy competition in the telecom industry, but on the bottom lines of millions of consumers and small business owners across America.

At the top of that list of companies is Sharp, and today we announced that we will be collaborating with them to develop innovative new smartphones and tablets that will run on LightSquared’s network. Sharp will call on its rich history of delivering unique and ground-breaking consumer electronics products by offering our partners an innovative portfolio of devices that will incorporate cutting-edge technologies such as Sharp’s LCD panel and camera module. These products will be developed using chipsets that support LightSquared’s L-band network.

This is a very exciting announcement for LightSquared. Not only are we collaborating with one of the premier companies in the consumer electronics space, but current and future LightSquared partners will now be able to offer a broad range of Sharp’s eye-catching devices to their customers. These devices will also complement LightSquared’s existing product portfolio featuring USB data modems and embedded modules.

Our collaboration with Sharp also highlights the significant impact that LightSquared will have on the wireless industry. With our unique combination of an open, unrestricted network, wholesale-only business model and rapidly expanding roster of wholesale partners, LightSquared presented Sharp with a strategic opportunity to break into the US wireless market and aggressively expand their presence in mobile devices.

The U.S. wireless industry is at an inflection point, with over-subscribed networks threatening to stall American innovation and stifle the demands of consumers for devices with the latest and greatest features. The LightSquared network will not only address this issue by providing high-quality and affordable broadband access for all Americans, but also provide companies like Sharp with a robust platform to deliver innovative devices to consumers.

LightSquared has now signed 17 agreements with a diverse range of partners who are eager to use our open network to develop new devices, services and applications, and level the wireless industry’s competitive playing field.

Next week at CTIA in San Diego we plan to provide additional details on our exciting collaboration with Sharp and showcase some of their devices. We hope to see you there.

For the past decade, we have developed our network based on the fact that America needs more capacity and competition in broadband wireless, and that the technical challenges — notably, the potential for GPS receiver interference — are surmountable by applying ingenuity and energy to develop engineering solutions. We have always believed that LightSquared and GPS can and will co-exist, for the benefit of the country. That benefit will be felt by all Americans in the form of increased choice, greater innovation and lower prices — but perhaps most notably among our farmers, who too often are denied its benefits.

This week, we received a strong endorsement of our view that LightSquared and GPS can co-exist from several of the country’s leading agricultural organizations: the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Sugar Alliance, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Farmers Union, National Potato Council and the Western Growers Association. These groups signed a joint letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees calling for them to work to ensure that the agricultural sector receives the benefits of LightSquared’s network alongside GPS. “We believe that both of these technologies have great potential to drive economic development in rural America and a reasonable agreement should be reached to allow for their future success,” the organizations wrote.

“We urge your committees to communicate to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the benefit farmers and ranchers will receive from expanded broadband access and precision agriculture. The FCC must ensure that accurate GPS will continue to be available for precision agriculture and also ensure that broadband access be made available for all of rural America.” We welcome the support of these important organizations and their members. Read the full letter here.

In other recent news, LightSquared has also received support from Republican bloggers who are pushing back against some of the attacks recently made against our company. In the past week, the influential blog RedState published a piece urging support for LightSquared, noting that our $14 billion investment comes entirely from the private sector, with no government assistance — and categorically rejecting any comparison to Solyndra, a company that received half a billion dollars in government loan guarantees. And RedNoVA, a leading Republican blog in Virginia, denounced the extreme political assertions that have been bandied about without foundation.