US satellite/terrestrial venture LightSquared has announced a network partnership with rural wireless provider Open Range.
The partnership includes a wholesale agreement whereby Open Range can sell LightSquared’s satellite capacity to its customers.
It…
US satellite/terrestrial venture LightSquared has announced a network partnership with rural wireless provider Open Range.
The partnership includes a wholesale agreement whereby Open Range can sell LightSquared’s satellite capacity to its customers.
It may also include a nationwide 4G roaming arrangement and a licensing agreement that enables Open Range to lease L-band spectrum owned by LightSquared.
Sanjiv Ahuja, LightSquared’s chairman and CEO, said the partnership would enable his company to provide a larger nationwide LTE service to its retail partners and customers.
He added that the partnership “is part of LightSquared’s planned commercial service which will result in billions of dollars of investment, offer consumers a new wireless competitor and create tens of thousands of jobs across America”.
Open Range had previously leased 2483.5MHz-2495MHz spectrum from mobile satellite operator Globalstar. However, the terrestrial rural broadband provider was forced to search for alternative spectrum after the FCC denied Globalstar an extension to milestones governing its ATC licence on 14 September.
This decision prompted criticism from some industry observers, who accused the FCC of double standards because the regulator has granted LightSquared similar waivers in the past, including a deadline extension last year that enabled the launch of its first satellite, SkyTerra 1.
The FCC has allowed Open Range to continue using Globalstar’s spectrum until a new spectrum partner can be found.
As part of efforts to appease regulators, Open Range has made voluntary contributions to the US government, totalling US$99,341 to date, representing the lease payments that would have been paid to Globalstar after the annulled agreement.
Meanwhile, reports suggest LightSquared is also seeking to secure a partnership with US mobile operator Sprint Nextel, with the aim of using the group’s equipment and cell sites to accelerate the deployment of its own ground infrastructure.
The reported plan to utilise extra capacity on Sprint’s network, which will become available as part of the operator’s proposed US$5bn infrastructure investment, is likely to increase pressure on LightSquared’s US WiMAX wholesale rival Clearwire.
Clearwire, which currently sees Sprint as a majority shareholder and customer for 4G capacity, is also seeking additional funding for significant network expansion in the near term.
Sprint has declined to comment on the partner speculation, but has insisted that every option it is considering for the future will still involve Clearwire.
Back in February, LightSquared CMO Frank Boulben told SatelliteFinance that his group had secured wholesale agreements with five customers: two carriers, a device manufacturer, a national retailer and a website.
Boulben also revealed the venture plans to accelerate its terrestrial deployment by more than a year.
This could mean the group’s network, which is being built by European vendor Nokia Siemens Networks, will be able to cover 260 million people in the US by 2014.
