Lightsquared and Rural New Mexico

The Federal Communications Commission gave LightSquared tentative approval for a broadband network that has the potential to interfere with GPS receivers, based on the company's promise to serve rural America with a network of up to 40,000 cell towers.

Last month LightSquared signed a deal with Sprint, the number three wireless carrier, to use its network of cell towers, which makes me wonder exactly how much of rural America LightSquared will actually serve.

Until last year, when I switched to Verizon Wireless, I continued my almost two decade contract with Sprint, despite the fact that, based on my experience, the company has close to zero coverage along the I-25 corridor from my home here in The Original Las Vegas , N.M., to Walsenburg, Colo., a distance of about 166 miles.

This coverage map shows that for service from here into Colorado, I need to "roam" on another carrier, which tells me Sprint does not have the towers to cover this area.

I placed a call earlier this week to the LightSquared press folks on how the company or Sprint will fill this gap -- as well as others in the Sprint network -- and have yet to hear back from them. I look forward to the opportunity to fill the gaps in my knowledge.