Rep. Fulcher Presses FCC to Move Faster on GPS Backup

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2025 – A top House Republican has pressed the Federal Communications Commission to move faster on a terrestrial backup to GPS.

Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on commerce, manufacturing, and trade, urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to advance the agency’s inquiry into a proposed rulemaking.

In a Thursday, Dec. 4 letter, Fulcher said the United States was “lagging” behind China and Russia in deploying resilient positioning, navigation, and timing systems.

“Five years have passed since President Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to address this problem,” Fulcher wrote.

In 2020, Trump's executive order 13905 directed U.S. agencies to build resilience against GPS disruptions by developing and implementing alternative PNT sources.

However, the push lands as major infrastructure and public safety stakeholders urged the FCC this week to slow down. 

In filings, national tolling authorities and the security industry warned that one of the most developed proposals in the docket could interfere with millions of devices that rely on the 900 MegaHertz (MHz) band today. 

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association in a filing Friday said a 5G-based positioning system advanced by NextNav rests on “deeply flawed” engineering assumptions and could disrupt electronic tolling operations in 22 states. 

Meanwhile, the Security Industry Association on Tuesday cautioned that the network design NextNav envisions would render fire alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, panic buttons, and other life safety sensors “unusable.”

Public safety organizations remain divided, adding further complexity to the record.

NextNav, in its own filings, has dismissed concerns as unsound. The company told the FCC that its 5G-based system is the most mature terrestrial alternative in development, pointing to Department of Transportation evaluations that ranked its technology first in earlier PNT trials.

Carr has so far signaled support for exploring terrestrial alternatives to GPS. The FCC opened an inquiry into the matter in March, but has yet to act since.