LTE: USA: Sprint/LightSquared deal reported to be signed.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Reports over the weekend claimed that a long-mooted US network sharing agreement between wholesale LTE operator prospect LightSquared and the country’s third-largest carrier Sprint is now a done deal.

 A letter obtained by Bloomberg News cites LightSquared owner Philip Falcone as stating: “LightSquared and Sprint will jointly develop, deploy and operate LightSquared’s 4G LTE network. Sprint will become a significant customer of LightSquared’s 4G LTE network.” The deal is believed to be a 15-year contract valued at as much as US$20 billion. Neither company has confirmed the reports.

The agreement would in theory help Sprint pay for a US$5 billion network modernisation plan (dubbed Network Vision) which it announced late last year. CDMA and WiMAX operator Sprint is believed to be planning a long-term move to LTE technology, and the tieup with LTE operator LightSquared is certainly in keeping with such a strategy. 

Under the new agreement, Sprint would both help LightSquared deploy its network and become a major customer of the company. LightSquared will likely use Sprint’s network equipment on 40,000 mobile towers along with its own wireless airwaves.

 “This gets LightSquared to their goal of nationwide coverage much more quickly than if they were going to build it out on their own,” said Chris Larsen, a Piper Jaffray analyst in New York. LightSquared currently has another challenge to overcome; convincing regulators that its service will not interfere with GPS signals.. “LightSquared will have to resolve these issues with GPS before Sprint can make full use of that extra capacity,” noted Larsen.