March 2024: The FCC has an ongoing investigation of phone manufacturers like Apple,
Google, Samsung, and Nokia whose devices receive signals from satellites owned by foreign adversaries – violating federal rules. The RNL’s Dr. Humphreys informs that using these signals in addition to approved signals would only improve positioning solutions. The more satellites used, the higher the solution precision, “especially in urban areas where the view of the sky is limited.”
Representative Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, provides one reason for these companies allegedly violating FCC rules. He suggests that the US is lagging far behind in deploying and activating the next generation of GPS satellites. For more on the story, read the article here or the transcript here.