As the FCC and mobile operators seek additional spectrum to fuel networks that can satisfy consumers' demands for high-speed data, LightSquared's travails may be repeated in other bands, Marshall said. Efforts to use frequencies in the 2.3GHz and 1.5GHz bands may reveal interference concerns, he said. "There certainly are other places where this can or will occur," Marshall said.

LightSquared, insisting on its rights to the so-called L-Band spectrum where it planned to deploy its network, has said the FCC is obligated to swap that spectrum for another band if it doesn't allow the LTE network. That solution probably can't happen soon, if ever.

"If the FCC were to do a spectrum swap, they would basically be saying, 'Yeah, we made a mistake,'" Marshall said. In addition, that would set a precedent that the FCC doesn't want, giving a company spectrum in return for frequencies that it never unconditionally controlled, he said.

With a U.S. presidential election coming up in November, political considerations will at least delay a resolution of the regulatory tangle, said TMF Associates analyst Tim Farrar.