LightSquared’s Plan B: swap spectrum with the military

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that LightSquared is coming up with new options to stay alive in the wake of being dinged by the FCC this week. One idea is to trade its slice of the spectrum with a slice of similar size controlled by the U.S. military. The Department of Defense uses this one slice for aircraft testing and its located far away from GPS signals so Lightsquared would be operating in such a way that its signal wouldn’t interfere with GPS. The Journal leans on its old friend People Familiar WIth The Matter here.

Here are some known unknowns about this idea:

– Why the Department of Defense would want to go along with that
– If the DOD activities would also interfere with GPS
– How much this would cost LightSquared
– Where it would get that money

It makes you wonder what Plan C is going to be. Maybe it will involve coconuts and string.