LightSquared’s LTE Woes Coming To An End, But Not The Way They Planned

The National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee may have just tapped the final nail in LightSquared’s LTE coffin. A memo released yesterday by the nine federal agencies that make up the committee deemed that LightSquared’s proposed LTE plans would interfere with existing GPS satellites in a way that cannot be fixed.

The troubled wireless internet service provider is still awaiting FCC approval in their quest to build a Long-Term-Evolution network, which was the foundation of a now delayed partnership with Sprint. If LightSquared is officially shot down, the Now Network will have to explore other avenues in order to further advance their already running Network Vision campaign.

Sprint recently unveiled three new LTE devices at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, that are currently slated to be released in the first half of 2012. With such aggressive moves being made, it’s doubtful that LightSquared’s current situation will completely derail Sprint’s planned deployment of a nationwide LTE network. But this setback could very well slow things down. Here’s to hoping that Sprint has a backup plan.

Reports Claim Sprint’s LTE Will Run On 1900MHz Only

                    

Sprint has been aggressively pushing its “Network Vision” strategy, with a big center piece of it being its proposed 15-year partnership with LightSquared. Now, a spokesperson for the third largest carrier in the United States revealed to PhoneScoop in an interview that all its LTE devices will run on 1900MHz spectrum. The Now Network has been on a roller coaster as of late, the company recently extended the deadline of its LightSquared deal to then put it on hold, awaiting a final decision from DC.

For the time being, Sprint’s 1900MHz spectrum will handle both the carrier’s current CDMA voice/data network and future LTE data network. The spokesperson also made it clear that Clearwire will not, however, expand its WiMax network beyond what it already covers and will eventually transition to LTE.

This would suggest that if the FCC rejects Sprint’s agreement with LightSquared, the company’s ambitious goal of rolling out its forthcoming Long Term Evolution 4G will be doomed or at least temporarily brought to a screeching halt. As evident with the spokesperson’s comments, the Now Network needs this deal to pass. We can’t see why the government wouldn’t pass a deal that’ll not only help save these companies a bunch of money, but extend 4G services to millions of customers.