Innovative data networker LightSquared still wants to fight for its future, but avowed business partner Sprint Nextel
Just days after LightSquared hired an all-star team of legal experts, Sprint told the company to look for new partners. Sprint has extended the deadline for FCC approval of LightSquared's network several times. Patience is a virtue, but there's no point in overdoing it.
The original 15-year agreement came with some contingencies, allowing Sprint to pull out by returning $65 million of LightSquared's unused network-building funds. While hardly pocket change, that cost pales next to the $9 billion Sprint planned to pay for the hybrid tower-and-satellite network. It's also cheap in comparison to the $6.5 billion of cash and radio licenses AT&T
To steal a line from Jerry Maguire, nobody said that winning was cheap. Especially not in the smartphone market, where AT&T and Verizon
So Sprint has found a whole new level of commitment to Clearwire
Maybe LightSquared can regroup and just sell a satellite-bound solution to Sprint and others, forgetting all about the controversial land-based component and its impact on GPS signals. It certainly sounds better than giving up the ghost altogether. I'm just glad I don't have a financial stake in LightSquared's survival at this point.
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