9:10 AM New investment on the horizon for US LTE venture
9:10 AM -- LightSquared , the US wholesale Long Term Evolution (LTE) network backed by Harbinger Capital Partners LP , could find an investor in South Korea's largest mobile operator SK Telecom (Nasdaq: SKM), according to Reuters. (See Harbinger Hatches LTE Challenger in US, LightSquared Eyes L-Band for LTE, and LightSquared Reveals More Spectrum Plans.)
SK Telecom confirmed that it is in talks with the US LTE company and that the terms of any investment have not yet been determined.
LightSquared has so far secured $1.75 billion in debt and equity financing and counts $2.9 billion of assets from Harbinger, but the venture will need to raise more money to finance its ambitious plan to cover 92 percent of the US population with its LTE network by 2015.
SK Telecom had a go at the US mobile market in 2005 with Helio Inc. , a mobile virtual network operator joint venture with EarthLink Inc. (Nasdaq: ELNK), but the operators sold that venture to Virgin Mobile USA Inc. (NYSE: VM) in 2008. (See Helio, Goodbye.)
— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Light Reading Mobile
You May Also Like
