LightSquared: a stalled FCC approval process puts LTE network, Sprint partnership on ice
LightSquared's proposed wholesale LTE network and its announced 15-year partnership with Sprint are both dead in the water after having been met with numerous GPS interference concerns and a failed bid at FCC approval.
LightSquared appoints new CEO, Chairman of the Board
LightSquared has appointed Doug Smith as its new permanent CEO and Chairman of the Board. Prior to this, Smith acted as co-COO for the troubled company, after serving as chief network officer and handling LightSquared's network design, deployment, and operations. Earlier this year, former CEO Philip Falcone stepped down from his position just before the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
LightSquared had grandiose plans to deploy a terrestrial 4G LTE network on spectrum that was...
Mobile
SEC charges LightSquared's Falcone with securities fraud
The SEC is going after Philip Falcone, the beleaguered hedge fund manager behind Harbinger Capital Partners and the now-bankrupt LightSquared LTE initiative, filing civil fraud charges on Wednesday. In a statement, the director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said the charges "read like the final exam in a graduate school course in how to operate a hedge fund unlawfully."
Falcone allegedly lent himself $113 million from a Harbinger fund
Two separate complaints were filed against...
LightSquared supporters ask for spectrum swap, lenders propose 90-day lifeline
A group of lawmakers have sent FCC chairman Julius Genachowski a letter this week asking him to look into whether a spectrum swap with the Department of Defense would allow LightSquared to develop its LTE network, a buildout that had been nixed over GPS interference concerns. While not impossible, a swap would certainly be unprecedented — the DoD would have to give up some of its spectrum holdings elsewhere and take over LightSquared's portion of the L-band. The lawmakers —...
Mobile
LightSquared files for bankruptcy
After what feels like an eternity of drama, a drawn-out fight with US regulators, a failed attempt to provide LTE to Sprint, and the planned exit of its CEO, LightSquared has finally bowed to the inevitable and filed for bankruptcy, reports Bloomberg. The move comes just over a month after the company declared that it was "seriously considering" filing, when CEO Philip Falcone said that the move would allow the company to gain more time to deal with its creditors.
LightSquared declared it had...
Mobile
Philip Falcone to step down from LightSquared leadership
LightSquared's CEO Philip Falcone will "eventually" step aside as the public face of the company, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move follows months of setbacks for the wireless broadband provider, and is being suggested as a concession that could allow the firm to renegotiate terms with its lenders and prevent it from entering bankruptcy. However, the WSJ quotes a person close to the company as saying that a final agreement may not be reached, and it was still possible that the company...
Mobile
LightSquared pays $56.3 million to Inmarsat, gets two more years to seek approval for LTE network
Struggling company LightSquared has bought itself two more years to try to launch its 4G LTE network. Today, LightSquared announced that it had reached a deal with satellite provider Inmarsat that would let it delay its payments until after March 31st, 2014. The company paid off an outstanding debt of $56.25 million to Inmarsat, but it won't need to make the $29.6 million payment that was due late last month.
LightSquared interim CEO Doug Smith said that this amended agreement "allows...
Mobile
LightSquared 'seriously considering' voluntary bankruptcy in wake of failed network plans
Things have been looking grim for LightSquared since its ambitions to build a new LTE network were thwarted by the FCC, and now the hedge fund manager behind the company says he is considering a voluntary bankruptcy. "There are arguments that we would be better off in bankruptcy than not," Philip Falcone said, according to Bloomberg. "LightSquared, if I have to, I'll put it into bankruptcy. I don't care." He continued to say that a bankruptcy would provide the company time to deal with its...
Policy & Law
LightSquared won't say die on LTE, demands reversal or spectrum from the FCC
If you've read any of the public statements that LightSquared has made in the ongoing saga of its attempted LTE launch, you've no doubt been struck by the sense of outrage emanating from the company. Sprint's decision today to "exercise its right" to back out of using LightSquared hasn't cowed the company, if anything it's made LightSquared even more apoplectic.
True, the company's press release about Sprint's decision was all roses, with phrases like "Sprint's decision will enhance our...
Sprint 'exercises its right' to end LightSquared agreement for LTE, $65m returned
As The Wall Street Journal had reported last night, Sprint has announced today that it'll be formally terminating its agreement to partner with LightSquared on an LTE deployment in the controversial 1600MHz band. Of course, LightSquared had never intended for its 1600MHz holdings to be controversial — the controversy was brought to it when nagging concerns over interference with GPS couldn't be solved to the FCC's satisfaction, effectively ending the company's aspiration for deploying a...
Mobile
Sprint to end LightSquared deal for 4G LTE on Friday
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sprint will officially announce Friday that it's terminating its planned 15-year agreement with LightSquared for LTE service, leaving the wireless wholesaler without a major partner for its 4G network — a network rendered all but dead by the FCC's ruling that it couldn't be built over GPS interference concerns. Needless to say, the official termination comes as no surprise, and it's something that Sprint has hinted it would do in recent weeks.
L...
Mobile
Sprint to end LTE network deal with LightSquared by next week, says Bloomberg
Things are going from bad to worse for LightSquared, with Bloomberg reporting that Sprint could end its partnership with the company as early as next week. The two signed a 15-year agreement last summer to build a new nationwide LTE network, however the FCC has since denied LightSquared's application due to GPS interference concerns. Sprint has already granted several extensions, including an additional six weeks in January, but Bloomberg's sources say that no further extensions are coming....
LightSquared defaults on payment to satellite partner, plans to cut 45 percent of its workforce
Things have been looking grim for LightSquared's efforts to build a new LTE network, with the FCC recently deciding to reject its network application due to concerns over GPS interference. The bad news continues to come, with the company defaulting on a payment to one of its satellite partners on Monday, and announcing plans to lay off almost half of its workforce today. The partner in question, UK-based Inmarsat, was owed an installment payment of $56.25 million. For its part, LightSquared...
Sprint will owe LightSquared $65m if deal not approved by mid-March
LightSquared's plans to build out an LTE network appear to be in danger, but the company stands to regain some cash if the plans fall through. If the FCC doesn't approve the deal by mid-March, Sprint will have to return $65 million that LightSquared paid to the carrier last year as part of the proposed 15-year agreement to share buildout expenses and wireless spectrum. And with yesterday's news that the FCC will reject the proposal due to longstanding concerns that the network would interfere...
FCC says GPS stakeholders need to help free up mobile broadband spectrum
As we heard yesterday, the FCC has rejected LightSquared's application for a mobile broadband network on grounds that it would interfere with GPS receivers. However, the Commission also implied that GPS technology is partially to blame for the rejection. In a letter posted today (PDF), FCC spokesperson Tammy Sun said that the proposal had "revealed challenges to removing regulatory barriers on spectrum that restrict use of that spectrum for mobile broadband. This includes receivers that pick...
Mobile
FCC to reject LightSquared's network application due to GPS interference concerns
LightSquared's attempts to launch a new LTE network may be at an end, with the Wall Street Journal and AllThingsD reporting that the FCC will be rejecting the company's application after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration cited concerns due to potential GPS interference. In its letter to the FCC, the NTIA stated that after extensive testing it had concluded that "LightSquared's proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no...
LightSquared's LTE network would have 'ruinous effects' on aircraft safety, says DOT
Yesterday the US House of Representatives' Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure heard from a number of bodies, including the Air Transport Association and the Air Line Pilots Association, that LightSquared's proposed LTE network would directly interfere with the safe running of flights. The hearing was told that the network would not be compatible with safety-of-flight systems that rely on GPS to improve their ability to prevent in-air collisions.
John D. Porcari, the Deputy...
Policy & Law
LightSquared pleads with FCC for stricter GPS standards
LightSquared has filed a letter with the FCC asking the regulator to set tighter standards for GPS devices to prevent interference with other wireless services. The would-be LTE network wants the Commission to regulate the market in order to prevent manufacturers from making navigation devices that use frequencies outside of their allocated bands. It believes that such devices are the cause of the interference issues that have led to a government committee unanimously agreeing that...
Policy & Law
Sprint gives LightSquared final extension for FCC approval, will end partnership in March without it
It turns out 30 extra days wasn't enough: despite the extension Sprint granted LightSquared earlier this month, LightSquared remains embroiled in a lengthy FCC approval process for its proposed wholesale LTE network. Yet as it turns out, Dan Hesse and Co. have a bit more patience to spare: Sprint has announced that it is giving LightSquared one final six-week reprieve to overcome GPS interference concerns and get Washington's permission to proceed. Should the outlook fail to change come...
Policy & Law
The FCC wants your feedback on LightSquared's GPS woes
With mounting evidence that its proposed use of spectrum would have a detrimental impact on GPS reliability, LightSquared seems to be hedging its 4G hopes on the argument that affected devices don't warrant interference protection from the US government. Now the FCC is asking for public opinion on the matter, a development which would seem to indicate that LightSquared's plans aren't doomed just yet. Indeed, in an email statement to Bloomberg, executive vice president Jeff Carlisle says his...
LightSquared LTE network interferes with GPS, says US government committee
The saga of LightSquared may be coming to its final turn, as no fewer than nine federal agencies have unanimously agreed that its LTE network interferes with GPS in such a way that it can't be fixed. The group of agencies make up the National Space-Based Positioning and Timing Executive Committee, which also cited an FAA report that said the LightSquared network would interfere with aircraft safety systems. Although the committee doesn't have the final say, its decision is likely to hold...
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse on throttling 'unlimited' data and LightSquared LTE investment (update: misquoted)
Dan Hesse has been chatty today, dropping two pieces of knowledge on investors today that could bear on actual Sprint users. The first is that the "unlimited" data plan that Hesse and Sprint have long touted for smartphones may not be as truly unlimited as claimed. About one percent of users on Sprint's network reportedly have their data throttled, according to Hesse: "For those that want to abuse it, we can knock them off" (see update below). Presumably he's referring to smartphone users, as...
Policy & Law
Sprint gives LightSquared another 30 days to seal LTE partnership with FCC approval
Sprint is proving to be a patient business partner: according to The Wall Street Journal, the carrier has extended the deadline for LightSquared to gain FCC approval on its proposed LTE network by 30 days. When the 15-year agreement was first announced this past summer, the companies expected to receive the go-ahead from Washington no later than December 31st. Of course, that was all before GPS-related concerns brought intense scrutiny upon LightSquared's plans.
At stake is the company's goal...
Policy & Law
LightSquared asks for additional testing of proposed LTE network
LightSquared's proposed LTE network has been met with strong opposition from the FCC due to the network's spectrum potentially interference with GPS receivers. The company's now trying to bargain its way to approval through additional testing and by postponing and eliminating a few planned network power boosts.
In a memo submitted to the FCC on Monday, LightSquared asked for testing and approval on the upper 10MHz of its network from the National Executive Committee for Space-Based...
Policy & Law
LightSquared battles GPS interference claims as it tries to launch LTE network
LightSquared is attempting to launch a new LTE network, to provide 4G service both to carriers like Sprint and to end users. However, the spectrum it has lined up for that network has the potential to interfere with GPS receivers used by both consumers and the military. The FCC has provisionally given the company permission to launch, depending on whether or not tests show that the network can operate without interference.
A draft of a test commissioned by the government has leaked, and the...
Android
LightSquared looks to Sharp for its first LTE phones and tablets
Ongoing concerns about interference between LightSquared's L-band LTE network and GPS reception aren't yet resolved to everyone's satisfaction, but the would-be wholesaler of 4G services is forging on with its first consumer devices. Sharp — not traditionally known for its North American mobile presence — has been selected as the company's first supplier of both phones and tablets, and they're coming in short order: demo units will be out on display at next week's CTIA Enterprise &...
