LightSquared gets $265m more to fund LTE 4G network
updated 12:10 pm EDT, Tue July 5, 2011
Investment over past 12 months tops $2.3 billion
Infrastructure provider LightSquared has secured an additional $265 million in financing to help the company continue to build out its wholesale 4G LTE wireless broadband and satellite network. This is in addition to the over $2.1 billion that the company has already raised in the past 12 months. The financing was funded by current investor Harbinger Capital Investors, as well as additional existing and new partners.
LightSquared is trying to be the first provider to offer a network solely based upon LTE technology. The company hopes to have trials in place by the end of this year, and commercial service during the first half of 2012.
LightSquared recently entered into an agreement with Sprint to become the carrier's LTE backbone provider. The value of that deal alone is worth an estimated $15 billion to $20 billion.
The company claims that during the next eight years, it will be tapping over $14 billion in private investment in order to fund the deployment and operation of its network. It has faced steep challenges, including fighting incumbent carriers as well as concerns over GPS interference because of the frequencies and strength it was originally planning to use.
