Lightsquared Secures First Spectrum Partnership

LightSquared, the new venture to create a national US LTE network in mobile satellite spectrum, has signed its first public partner. Not a major operator - which many analysts believe will be a prerequisite for success of the ambitious plan - but a vendor focused on the burgeoning market for the smart grid.

Focal Points:

• Airspan Networks, which made its name in broadband wireless access and WiMAX infrastructure, has signed an exclusive deal to market spectrum to utilities on behalf of LightSquared. This highlights two elements of the new business models that will accompany 4G - the wholesale approach on which LightSquared is founded, and a reliance on new revenue streams from embedded wireless and machine-to-machine segments.
• The Airspan deal is the first in a rumored string of agreements LightSquared will announce to license its spectrum even before it starts to build its network, generating revenues more immediately. Airspan will market the 1.4GHz wireless backhaul solution, including spectrum, equipment and services for smart grid applications in the electric, gas and water utility sectors in the US.
• The 1.4 Hz spectrum will be managed by Airspan and these frequencies will help utilities to build optimized proprietary grid management networks. Airspan CEO Eric Stonestrom said: "The utilities market is evolving rapidly as we position America's infrastructure for the next century and we are in a unique position to enable utilities to deploy 4G and other broadband solutions for control and monitoring of critical grid elements."

Editor’s Note: There are many advantages of LTE (which is sometimes referred to pre-4G); higher throughput, low latency, but most of all the ability to interface with older technology. This is important as is inherently realizes that the devices accessing the infrastructure tend to change faster than the infrastructure. Nokia, realizing this is spending billions nationwide to be able to provide access to over 90% of the US by 2014. One wonders if the infrastructure they are building today will support requirements and capabilities at that time or will they have to immediately or before the project is finished have to accommodate new technology not accounted for at this time.