Hogan Lovells has revealed that former Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) is lobbying for a controversial telecommunications company that filed for bankruptcy in May.
Coleman, a Washington-based of counsel to Hogan, is helping LightSquared Inc. garner support for its efforts to use federally regulated spectrum, according to a lobbying registration report filed with Congress on Thursday. Backed by billionaire Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, the Reston, Va.-based company is attempting to launch a national open wireless broadband network that has faced a backlash stemming from concerns about disruption to Global Positioning System devices.
The Defense and Transportation departments last year said testing on LightSquared signals showed "harmful interference" with several GPS devices and disrupted a flight safety system intended to alert pilots to changing terrain. The company has disputed the findings.
In a bid to put worries about its network to rest, LightSquared in September submitted to the FCC a plan to launch a system that wouldn't use airwaves that drew GPS concerns.
Neither Coleman nor LightSquared spokesman Michael Tucker was immediately available for comment.
LightSquared spent more than $2.2 million on federal lobbying during the first three quarters of this year, according to congressional records. The company used lobbyists from more than a dozen firms, including Dickstein Shapiro; DLA Piper; Patton Boggs; K&L Gates; and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
On behalf of Hogan, Nixon Peabody also is lobbying on matters concerning LightSquared. Hogan paid Nixon Peabody $90,000 this year to advocate for Harbinger on FCC and U.S. broadband policy issues.
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