New Economic Report Finds Total Quantified Value of a Terrestrial GPS Backup is $14.6 Billion

RESTON, Va., Oct. 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NextNav Inc. ( NN), a leader in next-generation positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) and 3D geolocation, announced today that its plan for a terrestrial PNT backup and complement to GPS in the Lower 900 MHz would prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in losses in the event of a global GPS outage. The Brattle Group’s economic analysis finds that a 1-day global GPS outage could cost the American economy $1.6 billion, and NextNav’s proposal could prevent a loss of $663 million to the economy for a 24-hour outage period.

Adopting NextNav’s proposal to reconfigure the Lower 900 MHz band offers the US economy a $10.8 billion insurance policy to protect against GPS outages without taxpayer funding, plus additional benefits of $3.8 billion from increased resiliency. The total quantified value of a GPS backup is $14.6 billion based on The Brattle Group’s report.

Conducted by economists Coleman Bazelon and Paroma Sanyal of the Brattle Group, a highly recognized global economics firm, the study carefully evaluates the potential economic impact of a GPS outage and explores various scenarios that could result in a GPS disruption. It also examines the benefits of adopting NextNav’s proposal, including enhanced location accuracy that would benefit first responders to help improve emergency services. More findings from the report are below. The full report is available here.

"The need for greater resiliency in lifesaving and mission-critical terrestrial PNT technologies has been acknowledged by four Presidential administrations, yet few proposals have provided a clear path to a robust solution without substantial government intervention or taxpayer funding," said Dr. Coleman Bazelon, lead economist of the report. "Our analysis shows that NextNav's widescale solution provides a total economic value of $14.6 billion and the equivalent to more than a $10 billion insurance policy if GPS goes dark."

The Brattle Group Economic Analysis

To estimate the private sector value, the Brattle Group treated the terrestrial PNT backup solution as an "insurance policy" against GPS outages. The analysis estimates the potential economic loss for a 1-day, 7-day, and 30-day GPS outage to be $1.6 billion, $12.2 billion, and $58.2 billion, respectively. In the event of an outage, NextNav’s solution could reduce losses by $663 million, $6 billion and $31.9 billion, respectively. Given the probability of these outage events, the value to the American economy of the proposed terrestrial PNT approach is the equivalent of offering a $10.8 billion economic insurance policy to protect against GPS outages.

The report forecasts the top five sectors that would benefit most include telecommunications, maritime, telematics, location-based services, oil and gas.

Table: Summary of potential losses incurred by each sector for each outage scenario that are addressable by NextNav’s proposed 3D Terrestrial PNT Solution
Source: The Brattle Group

• The report also finds that additional resiliency for GPS backup has a value of $3.8 billion for the United States. Using the Government Accountability Office's cost estimates for a jamming-resistant, military-grade GPS signal, the report estimates that NextNav’s proposal would result in additional benefits.
  
• Finally, the Report examines a partial set of benefits from having a terrestrial PNT system that complements GPS. For example, first responders would benefit from more accurate location information, which would improve emergency services and save lives. The report notes that in a related context, the Federal Communications Commission stated that reducing emergency response times by one minute via improved location accuracy for emergency services could be valued at $97 billion annually.
  

"The need for a reliable GPS backup is not just a national security issue, it's an economic imperative," said Mariam Sorond, CEO of NextNav. "Our proposal offers a solution to safeguard a system that underpins American commerce, public safety, and national security without relying on taxpayer funding. We are committed to being part of a solution that unleashes the Lower 900 MHz band’s potential and is a win for the American people."

Change drives innovation. With the NextNav proposal, the FCC has the opportunity to update legacy rules to ensure a safer tomorrow.

About NextNav Inc.
NextNav Inc. ( NN) is a leader in next generation positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), enabling a whole new ecosystem of applications and services that rely upon 3D geolocation and PNT technology. Powered by low-band licensed spectrum, NextNav’s positioning and timing technologies deliver accurate, reliable, and resilient 3D PNT solutions for critical infrastructure, GPS resiliency and commercial use cases.

For more information, please visit https://nextnav.com/ or follow NextNav on X or LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Howard Waterman
[email protected]
917-359-5505

About The Brattle Group
The Brattle Group answers complex economic, regulatory, and financial questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. We aim for the highest level of client service and quality in our industry. We are distinguished by our credibility and the clarity of our insights, which arise from the stature of our experts; affiliations with leading international academics and industry specialists; and thoughtful, timely, and transparent work. Our clients value our commitment to providing clear, independent results that withstand critical review. Brattle has over 400 talented professionals across three continents.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “forecast,” “intend,” “seek,” “target,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “estimate,” “plan,” “outlook,” and “project” and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results and estimates of amounts not yet determinable and may also relate to NextNav’s future prospects, developments and business strategies. In particular, such forward-looking statements include the achievement of certain FCC-related milestones, the ability to realize the broader spectrum capacity and the advancement of NextNav’s terrestrial 3D PNT services, NextNav’s position to drive growth in its 3D geolocation business and expansion of its next generation terrestrial 3D PNT technologies, the business plans, objectives, expectations and intentions of NextNav, and NextNav’s estimated and future business strategies, competitive position, industry environment, potential growth opportunities, revenue, expenses, and profitability. These statements are based on NextNav’s management’s current expectations and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events.

Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside NextNav’s control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors include, but are not limited to, those included in Part II, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” of the Company’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” of the NextNav’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as well as those otherwise described or updated from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). You are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made, and NextNav undertakes no commitment to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: NN-FIN