US satellite/terrestrial venture LightSquared will need to raise US$3.5bn over the next two years in order to be cash-flow positive, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal quoted LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja saying that the company is confident…
US satellite/terrestrial venture LightSquared will need to raise US$3.5bn over the next two years in order to be cash-flow positive, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal quoted LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja saying that the company is confident that it can raise the capital that is needed.
Ahuja also reportedly said the company is confident it can design a network that can live harmoniously with the GPS network and GPS devices.
A LightSquared spokesman confirmed the US$3.5bn figure and said that the company did not require FCC approval to raise this money.
The company announced in July that it had secured US$265m in additional financing, drawn from both existing and new investors.
It said at the time that over the previous 12 months it had raised over US$2.3bn.
Separately, Republican senator Chuck Grassley has called on LightSquared to reveal all the communications between itself and the Department of Commerce, the FCC and the White House.
Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, made the demand in a letter to Sanjiv Ahuja dated 5 October.
Grassley also sent a letter to Philip Falcone, the head of the hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, calling on him to release all communications between Harbinger and the same US authorities.
Harbinger is LightSquared’s main financial backer.
In his letters to Ahuja and Falcone, Grassley also expressed his concern at that LightSquared had “unilaterally claimed” that it had solved the interference issue for 99.5% of all GPS devices.
Grassley said that the FCC’s chief engineer, Julius Knapp, had told congressional staff on 26 September that LightSquared’s interference issue continued to be a “hard problem”.
Grassley said: “Making a representation that this problem has been ‘solved’ without full and independent testing and without agreement from the Department of Defense, FCC, and other affected stakeholders again raises questions.”
Grassley also asked to see the communications between any firms or individuals retained by Harbinger and LightSquared and the Department of Commerce, the FCC and the White House.
A LightSquared spokesperson told TelecomFinance in September that it had not received any political favouritism. “The last major decision from the FCC put LightSquared’s network on hold until the GPS issue is resolved,” he said on 22 September.
On 25 September, LightSquared released an open letter from Ahuja, which stated: “With 99.5 percent of all commercial GPS interference accounted for and solved, LightSquared has now tackled solving the remaining .5 of GPS interference occurring on precision devices which also inappropriately violate our licensed spectrum.”
On 21 September, LightSquared announced that it had signed an agreement with the US-based manufacturer Javad GNSS to develop a new system that will “eliminate” interference problems with high-precision GPS receivers.
LightSquared’s spokesperson said today that the new spectrum plan would undergo testing in the coming months and “once LightSquared is satisfied there is no interference, later this year, the network will begin to be deployed”.
There has been media speculation in recent days that LightSquared could take legal action if it is denied permission to build its planned network.
The LightSquared spokesperson said: “LightSquared is confident that it will be able to work out the GPS issues and will not have to resort to legal action. However, LightSquared is confident of its legal position.”
