LightSquared has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US

US wholesale player LightSquared has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid efforts to resolve regulatory issues that have prevented it from launching its satellite service.

The carrier has been planning to build a ground-based LTE network, supported by satellites, but the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blocked the project, stating that the proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference.

It has now commenced “voluntarily reorganisation cases under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code” and will also file a recognition proceeding in Canada.

“The filing was necessary to preserve the value of our business and to ensure continued operations. The voluntary Chapter 11 filing is intended to give LightSquared sufficient breathing room to continue working through the regulatory process that will allow us to build our 4G wireless network,” said Marc Montagner, interim co-chief operating officer and chief financial officer of LightSquared.

“All of our efforts are focused on concluding this process in an efficient and successful manner.”

The filing was made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and the carrier said it intends to work with all key stakeholders to conduct its restructuring process and exit Chapter 11 as quickly as possible. Its current management team will continue to lead the company throughout this process.

“The company fully expects to continue normal operations throughout this process,” the firm said in a statement. “All LightSquared distribution partners and customers, including public safety, emergency response, government and military users of LightSquared’s satellite-based communications services can continue to rely on LightSquared to provide them with mission critical communications services.”

Dimitris Mavrakis, principal analyst – networks, at Informa Telecoms and Media, believes that future looks bleak for LightSquared.

“LightSquared’s plan was very optimistic from the start. From deployment strategy to business model, LightSquared would be an interesting case study, but very different than anything else in the mobile market today,” he said.

“In my opinion, LightSquared is unlikely to overcome the challenges its facing now, including interference issues and also lack of investor trust especially towards its CEO, Phillip Falcone. It is not entirely clear what will happen with LightSquared spectrum, but if the company folds, it’s very likely that it may be leased to a third party satellite provider.” 

LightSquared had recently defaulted on a payment of $56.25m to British satellite firm, although it eventually made the payment and struck a deal with Inmarsat to suspend further payments until 2014. It also recently announced plans to cut 45 per cent of its staff in order to save money, and even hired well-known solicitor Theodore Olsen in a bid to save the project.

Dish Networks could be bringing and LTE Advanced service to the US under the brand name 'Ollo'

US satellite pay TV broadcaster Dish networks has applied for the trademark ‘Ollo’ as a brand name for its planned wireless LTE-Advanced based services. The trademark applications were filed on 9 November, according to Fierce Cable, and would be used for both equipment such as tablets and phones, and services to provide video, voice and wireless broadband internet.

In August, Dish Networks requested permission from US telecoms regulator the FCC to transfer frequency licenses from its acquisition of bankrupt satellite mobile operator TerreStar, to add to spectrum acquired following the separate purchase of satellite company DBSD North America.

This would give it a total of 40MHz of S-Band spectrum to play with and would enable it to build out an LTE Advanced based wireless service in the US using a 2x20MHz configuration. It would then be in a position to offer a triple-play of voice, TV and broadband wireless to take on cable rivals such as Comcast, and also compete with established carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless and the planned LTE network that Sprint and LightSquared hope to offer on a wholesale basis.

However, by waiting for LTE Advanced, the existing players will all have a head start on Dish Networks’ ambitious plans. While AT&T only launched its LTE service in September 2011, it recently hinted that it has plans to introduce LTE Advanced in 2013.

The next LTE conference is LTE Latin America 2012, taking place on the 17-18 April 2012,at the Windsor Barra Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

The first two Galileo satellites will be launched in October 2011

A project to provide Europe with more reliable satellite navigation technology is nearing fruition after the European Commission (EC) announced that the first two satellite-navigation spacecraft are ready for launch.

The aircrafts passed a technical review at the weekend, ahead of their launch on a Russian Soyuz rocket on 20 October.

They are part of an EC project, called Galileo, which is a space-based navigation system created to reduce Europe’s reliance on the American global position system (GPS) and Russia’s GLONASS system. However, Galileo will be interoperable with the two systems.

The EC said that Galileo will give Europe independence in satellite navigation, which is particularly important given that it is a sector that accounted for around seven per cent of the EU GDP in 2009.

The Commission also claims that the billions of dollars it has invested in the system to date will be recouped as independent studies have shown that Galileo will deliver around $122bn (€90bn) to the EU economy over the first 20 years of operations. This will come in the form of direct revenues for the space, receivers and applications industries, as well as in the form of indirect revenues for society, such as more effective transport systems and more effective rescue operations.

Galileo’s interoperability with the two other systems means that its accuracy will also open the door to a host of new applications, such as locating people lost at sea with three metres accuracy, and making flights and landings safer.

The launch of the satellites will lead to the provision of three new satellite navigation services in 2014, by when 16 more satellites will be launched: The Open Service, an open and free of user charge signal; The Public Regulated Service, a navigation service using encrypted signals set up for better management of critical transport and emergency services and a Search And Rescue Service, an international satellite-based search and rescue distress alert detection system.

“This launch is of historical importance. Europe is demonstrating that it has the capability to be at the forefront of technological innovation,” said Antonio Tajani, European Commission vice-president in charge of industry and entrepreneurship. “Thousands of SMEs and innovators across Europe will be able to spot business opportunities and to create and develop their products based on the future Galileo infrastructure. Citizens will benefits from its services. Galileo is value for money and I count on Members States’ cooperation to find a solution for its financing.”

The third and fourth operational satellites will launch in the first half of 2012 and 14 more will be launched by 2014. The full system will consist of 30 satellites, control centres located in Europe and a network of sensor stations and uplink stations installed around the globe.

Tooway is now offering up to 10Mbps broadband via EutelSat's KA-SAT satellite

Eutelsat Communications announced at the beginning of June that its KA-SAT High Throughput Satellite had gone live, bringing broadband speeds of up to 10Mbps to homes across Europe.

The activation of the satellite means that consumers and business users can now gain access to speeds equivalent to ADSL2 DSL services regardless of their location. According to Eutelsat, at least 13 million European households are still beyond the range of ADSL, while 17 million households can only get speeds below 2Mbps, limiting the types of services they can access.

The company said that the KA-SAT satellite sports 82 narrow spotbeams that connect to 10 ground stations. This system enables frequencies to be reused 20 times and has a total throughput of 70Gbps. KA-SAT offers a significant upgrade to Eutelsat’s Eurobird 3 satellite, which was only capable of providing 2Mbps downlink.

“The entry into service of KA-SAT, the world’s most powerful spotbeam satellite, turns a new page in affordable and immediately available IP solutions, and places Europe at the forefront of high-capacity satellite technologies that can serve to quickly close the broadband gap,”  said Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat’s CEO in a statement. “We look forward to working with our service and technology partners to unleash the huge potential of this new pan-European wireless infrastructure.”

The service is available to end users via Eutelsat’s Skylogic affiliate Tooway. It provides a range of four standard packages via local country specific distributors offering speeds between 6-10Mbps for download and 1-4Mbps for upload with corresponding data allowances. In the UK, the top package (10Mbps down/4Mbps up) costs £99 a month, with a 25GB data allowance on a 24-month contract. The cheapest UK package at £24.99 a month offers 6Mbs download and 1Mbs up, with a 4GB cap.

A home install provides consumers with a small 77cm satellite dish and a modem that connects to a Mac or PC via Ethernet. Eutelsat said that the system can also meet the demands of professional users and deliver up to 40Mbps down and 10Mbps up, with 50Mbps down and 20Mbps upgrades on the way. Eutelsat suggested that its service would be well suited for newsgathering agencies with lightweight portable antennas providing uplink.

The Broadband World Forum will  take place on 27th-29th September at the CNIT, La Defense, Paris, France.

The need for TV

Eastern European broadband and voice markets tend to be extremely competitive and so bundling with multichannel TV is becoming an essential strategy in order to increase the loyalty of subscribers. With average TV viewing times particularly high in the region multichannel TV is a key part of the bundle and even has potential as a standalone product. These reasons lie behind a number of launches in recent months.

Incumbents

Vivacom, the Bulgarian incumbent, launched a DTH platform last year partly in order to help reduce churn of high margin fixed line telephony subscribers. And whilst it is true that Deutsche Telekom backed incumbents in the region have launched IPTV platforms they have also moved into the DTH area. Again part of the rationale is to help reduce churn of fixed telephony subscribers, particularly in more rural areas where the copper network is incapable of delivering IPTV. This helps explain Croatian incumbent Hrvatski Telekom’s DTH launch at the back end of last year.

Alternative and mobile operators

Alternative operators have also been traditionally priced out of the DTH market because of the high costs of buying space on satellite transponders and the fact this makes more sense to operators active in more than one country. However, there has been increased competition in the market for supplying satellite capacity, bringing costs down.
New wholesale DTH models are also emerging. T-Mobile in the Czech Republic launched TV services in November last year using Skylink’s platform. The T Mobile case also shows what potential synergies exist between mobile and DTH operations. The operator is offering hefty discounts on purchasing DTH equipment to those that extend their mobile voice contracts. It is possible other mobile operators in the region may also launch DTH services as a customer retention tool for their mobile offerings.

Standalone DTH players

There have also been launches from standalone DTH players such as this year’s entry in the Russian market of the operator Scene. There are also rumours that other platforms will enter the Polish market. Standalone models will be more problematic given the lack of the ability to bundle with broadband access, although there are still markets which have low multichannel TV penetration, with Russia being a prime example.

DTT threat

DTH operators will look to take advantage of the slow transition to digital terrestrial television (DTT) and are trying to head off this potential threat by including DTT tuners in their set top boxes. Indeed the transition towards analogue switch off in countries such as the Czech Republic could actually be an opportunity for DTH players since households will need to buy a new set top box. This is a further reason behind T-Mobile’s DTH launch in the Czech Republic. The competition amongst DTH platforms in many countries is also spurring growth in the number of HD channels thereby improving product quality against DTT platforms.

Growth to continue for a while

There is still potential for more operator launches. Nevertheless the number of DTH operators and subscribers is beginning to reach its maximum potential level in many markets, and the example of Romania should serve as a warning. Standalone DTH player Boom TV entered administration in the first half of 2010 thanks to stiff competition from Romania’s four other DTH platforms and its subscriber base may be sold to incumbent Romtelecom. Indeed after years of explosive growth, in the first half of last year Romania’s DTH market contracted in terms of subscriber numbers. But it is more than possible that many markets are capable of supporting two or more DTH platforms in the long term.

Martin Harriman will be speaking on day two of the LTE World Summit in May

It’s not every day that you come across a new carrier staffed by senior executives who are promising to “reset the industry”. But this is the bold claim made for US newcomer Lightsquared by the firm’s executive vice president of ecosystem development and satellite systems, Martin Harriman. Lightsquared aims to redefine the operator business model altogether, as Harriman will be explaining during his presentation at this year’s LTE World Summit in May.

A veteran of BT, Marconi and Ericsson—and more recently emerging markets WiMAX startup Augere—Martin Harriman has now joined ex-Orange CEO Sanjiv Ahuja (Augere’s founder) at the new US carrier. Lightsquared is backed by Philip Falcone’s hedge fund Harbinger Investments, and plans to use a combination of satellite and LTE technology to deliver wholesale broadband wireless services. It has signed a deal with Nokia Siemens Networks worth £7bn that will see the vendor deploy and operate the network on the new operator’s behalf.

Harriman’s executive title might be a bit on the hazy side, but there’s no lack of clarity in his assertion that traditional carriers do not excel at anything that they do—a state of affairs that he ascribes to the breadth of their operations. There is not another industry in the world, he says, that has such a rigid, vertical structure.

“The operators mine the iron ore, they smelt it, they make it into products and then they advertise and sell those products,” he says. “I think telcos are quite good at all of it, but they’re not very good at any of it. There’s a great opportunity for us to reset the industry, and we’re doing it in the biggest market in the world.”

Greenfield carriers are increasingly rare these days—especially in markets like the US—and it is imperative that they differentiate themselves from the incumbents. For Lightsquared the differentiation is born of financial necessity; the firm can’t afford to deploy, own and operate a nationwide network.

“I look with sheer envy at the infrastructure that Verizon and AT&T have,” Harriman says. “I’m not necessarily sure they’re using it in the best way that they could from a competitive sense, but I do envy it. I just can’t afford to build that.”

Nor, he continues, would it be desirable to do so at this stage in the evolution of the US cellular market. “If you asked people what they would build today if they wanted to deliver broadband wireless services to consumers and businesses,” he says, “I don’t think that anyone, with their hand on their heart, would think about building AT&T.”

Harriman’s take on the incumbent US carriers is necessarily complicated. On the one hand, he clearly doesn’t think they’re going about their business in the most effective way—and plans to exploit that from a competitive standpoint. On the other, the Lightsquared game plan calls for at least some of those incumbents to become customers, so he can’t dismiss them completely.

AT&T and Verizon, Harriman says, are “two colossal companies that effectively control the market”. And he explains that, while Lightsquared will be looking to win their custom in one way or another, there are restrictions on any relationships they might seek to build. US regulator the FCC imposed on Lightsquared a condition that the firm would not sell more than 25 per cent of its capacity to either or both of the top two players in the US market, he says.

Harriman concedes that the Lightsquared team is “not entirely sure yet” where all of its revenues are going to come from. But he says that he expects the firm to obtain a large percentage of its revenues from non-traditional carriers looking to add a wireless broadband element to their offering. Behind AT&T and Verizon, he says, all US carriers are straining to keep pace; a market view on which the Lightsquared model depends. He singles out WiMAX player Clearwire, which itself has a business model partly built on wholesale revenues, as a company that’s “really struggling”.

As a new type of player in the US market, Lightsquared needs to define itself in a way that more traditional operators do not. It won’t own the network and it won’t market itself to end users. So what kind of company is it?

“At the heart of this organisation is a telecoms company,” says Harriman. “It’s a very small one compared to what you see in the market today. But within it, at an executive level, you see people with the kind of experience and competence that could see them at that level in any national operation in the US, or any other country in the world. At the next layer down, the same is true,” he says.

It is below this level that the reduced size enabled by the firm’s outsourcing strategy becomes apparent, he says. At this layer in the corporate structure of a traditional telco the staff numbers are vast. But at Lightsquared, while the layers exist, they are very much smaller. “We’ve outsourced our hands, but we’ve not outsourced our brains,” he says. “While NSN takes care of everything, they do it under our direction.”

The fact that the firm’s funding is also non-traditional for a national telco has attracted suggestions that Harbinger Investments’ head man Philip Falcone, who made his fortune betting against the US sub-prime mortgage market, is simply looking to make a quick return on his investment. Some estimates suggest that as much as 40 per cent of Harbinger’s assets are tied up in Lightsquared.

Harriman dismisses the notion that Lightsquared is a fast-buck play for its financial backer. “A lot of people have said this is just Phil Falcone dressing this thing up, putting a bit of lipstick on it and selling it for twice what he paid for it,” says Harriman. “I hope that people are starting to realise that’s not going to happen. We wouldn’t have raised the debt we raised or signed the deal we signed with NSN if we weren’t going to do this, because that would just be stupid.”

So what about that deal with NSN? Infrastructure contracts worth $7bn are as rare as US Greenfield deployments in today’s market and Harriman says he was spoiled for choice when he did the initial RFP. He considered submissions from five vendors, all of which were capable of meeting Lightsquared’s requirements.

To Harriman, this suggests that the infrastructure market is overcrowded.

“It’s unusual in any industry to have that many capable players,” he says. “My view is that there is more consolidation to come on the infrastructure side. It’s a volume game and, if you look at the competing technologies, typically only one or two companies make money on them. It’s unusual that even the third placed player in terms of market share makes money. As someone who worked for the biggest infrastructure business in the world, I don’t think [that market] is a great place to be right now,” he says.

The structure of the deal with Nokia Siemens is not a straight Capex deal that will see Lightsquared buying a certain volume of base stations—but nor is it a managed capacity deal of the kind that have been employed in India. It is, Harriman says, extremely complex. He doesn’t offer a full explanation of how it works, saying that it is, “made up of Capex and Opex; a managed service deal with turnkey capability. It’s not quite as extreme as the managed capacity model.”

Managed capacity deals are very hard to execute successfully, he says, based on his experience on the supply side. “They haven’t worked very well for any of the operators or the vendors that have gone into them,” he says. “They’re too complex and they’re extremely hard to manage. My experience of being on the infrastructure side is that the whole process is one of constant dispute.”

Lightsquared differs from other US cellular carriers in another fundamental way—it will have a satellite element to its offering. As part of the requirements attached to the spectrum, Lightsquared has to have a satellite in the skies, which the firm launched on November 14^th, 2010. Just how much of an asset this will be remains to be seen, but Harriman says it offers the firm opportunities that competitors will lack.

“We have to have it, whether we like it or not,” he says. “We do like it, though, because it gives us national coverage from day one; and we’re just starting to think with our potential customers about what that means.”

Getting the satellite up is one thing; delivering attractive devices is another. Lightsquared has announced that Nokia will be providing “branded, data-centric devices”, but no more detail has been forthcoming. The vagueness of that statement, Harriman says, simply covers the fact that the two firms are involved in feasibility studies to see what products might be possible. Qualcomm has also signed up to provide chipsets, and Harriman references one other big smartphone brand, saying that discussions about a multimode device with satellite capability are underway.

At a time when mobile operators are feeling threatened in their consumer relationships by handset vendors and over the top service providers, Lightsquared appears to be embracing a model that positions the operator as a pipe. The original discussions that led to the firm’s birth centred purely on the availability of national spectrum but it soon became clear, Harriman says, that wholesale was the way forward.

“Based on a number of factors; the amount of spectrum, the fact that we’re at an inflection point in technology evolution and the fact that this market is imbalanced in terms of competitiveness, we decided this was the right thing to do. And that’s the journey we’ve embarked upon.” It’s a journey that the industry will watch with a great deal of interest.

The seventh annual LTE World Summit takes place in Amsterdam on 17th – 18th May

Lightsquared launched its SkyTerra satellite in November 2010

Hopeful US market debutante Lightsquared, which is aiming to deploy a combination of LTE and Satellite wireless services on a purely wholesale basis, faces an obstacle to deployment as a number of US governmental agencies have aired concerns that the modification of its licence to allow for terrestrial as well as satellite offerings will cause interference with existing services.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the US Department of Commerce, wrote to communications regulator the FCC this week voicing its own concerns, along with those of “several Federal agencies” including the Department of Defense, Transportation and Homeland Security (DoD). Danny Price, director of Spectrum and Communication Policy  at the DoD wrote to the NTIA in December, leading to the NTIA communication this week.

Lawrence Strickling, head of the NTIA, wrote: “In our view, this proposal raises significant interference concerns that warrant full evaluation as part of the FCC’s consideration of Lightsquared’s application to ensure that Lightsquared services do not adversely impact GPS and Global Navigation Satellite System receivers, maritime and aeronautical emergency communication systems, and Inmarsat receivers used by the Federal agencies.

The modification of the licence is essential to Lightsquared, headed up by former Orange chief Sanjiv Ahuja and funded by Philip Falcone’s hedge fund Harbinger Investments, as it is the terrestrial offering that represents the real opportunity for the newcomer. Questions have been raised over the commercial viability of the satellite element of Lightsquared’s offering.

Strickling’s letter hints at the concern that Lightsquared may not be genuinely focused on fully exploiting its satellite capability—despite the firm having already launched a satellite in accordance with its licence terms.

“Although Lightsquared intends to make dual-mode handsets available to its wholesale customers, it has not made clear whether it will require its wholesale customers to offer dual-mode handsets to their end users,” Strickling wrote. If this requirement is not passed on, he suggested, the carrier’s wholesale customers could opt to resell only cellular services. “The large increase in terrestrial usage that is expected to result form Lightsquared’s new business model creates a new and mroe challenging interference environment that must be addressed satisfactorily,” wrote Strickling.

Read our interview with Martin Harriman, EVP of Ecosystem Development and Satellite Services.

O3B announced this week that it had secured more funding

Google-backed satellite operator O3b Networks, which stands for “the Other 3 billion”, is set to launch services in 2013 after this week securing its final round of funding. The company has raised a total of $1.2bn from a group of investors and banks, which will allow it to launch the first of its satellites dedicated to providing low-latency, fibre-quality internet connectivity between developing markets and the global internet infrastructure.

Counting Google as one of its leading backers, O3b has also attracted the interests of HSBC Principal Investments and Liberty Global, as well as Bridge Venture Partners, Allen & Company, and SES as leading investors. Funding has also come from ING, CA-CIB, Dexia, DBSA, AFDB, DEG, Proparco, FMO, IFC and EAIF, as well as the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Sofina and Satya Capital.

Thales Alenia Space is currently constructing O3b’s first eight satellites and is using a system design that will allow O3b to add many more satellites to the constellation in the future in order to increase capacity. O3b’s satellites will be placed in orbit 8,000 kilometers from the earth, four times closer to the planet than regular geostationary satellites, which should give customers extremely low latency.

O3b will begin commercial service during the first half of 2013 following the planned launch of the first eight satellites by Arianespace with a Soyuz launcher from French Guiana. ViaSat will provide the teleport and trunking product customer terminals.

The brainchild of American entrepreneur Greg Wyler, who has rolled out fibre networks in Rwanda with his company Terracom, O3b Networks proposes to wirelessly connect markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, providing access to approximately 70 per cent of the world’s population with “fibre quality” internet connectivity.

While developed nations, particularly those in the northern hemisphere, are well served by an extensive submarine fibre network, the same is not true, in both a commercial and practical sense, of emerging markets. So O3b claims it can offer fibre performance over satellite links, at prices comparable to fibre in developed regions, as well as plugging directly into core networks and 3G cellular and WiMAX towers to change the economics of the telecommunications game in the world’s fastest growing markets. The company’s plan to have services available by 2013 means O3b’s offering could also play a significant role in harnessing technology and communications to help meet the UN Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015, according to supporters. The service could further bolster the strong growth of mobile data revenues in the Middle East.

Commenting on the launch date, Mark Rigolle, chief executive of O3b Networks said: “This news means that we are now truly on the map – our customers can be assured that O3b is a reality. Ever since Greg Wyler founded O3b in 2008, the company has enjoyed the support of a growing number of investors, customers and partners. This has allowed us to secure our funding and to achieve our goal of reaching the billions who have so far been poorly served or completely cut off from the internet – the greatest business and information resource of our time.”

NSN wins $7bn LTE contract from Harbinger-backed LightSquared

Forthcoming US 4G wholesale network LightSquared said Tuesday it has tapped Nokia Siemens Networks in a deal worth $7bn to deploy infrastructure for its LTE/satellite combination network.

Backed by Harbinger Capital Partners and incorporating US satellite operator SkyTerra Communications, LightSquared aims to offer wireless broadband capacity to retailers, wireline and wireless service providers, cable operators, device manufacturers, web players, content providers, and pretty much anyone who wants it. LightSquared will offer terrestrial-only, satellite-only, or integrated satellite-terrestrial coverage, will not offer a retail service and will not compete with its customers.

Sanjiv Ahuja, the onetime head of France Teleom’s Orange mobile operation, is in place as chairman and CEO of LightSquared, bringing a wealth of experience with him. Although it is not clear whether he will be balancing this role with his emerging markets startup, Augere.

Ahuja will be joined by Frank Boulben, head of strategy, marketing, and partner development and previously group commercial director at Vodafone and group chief marketing officer at Orange; Drew Caplan, formerly SkyTerra’s chief network officer, will continue to serve in this capacity for LightSquared.

“We’re not only delivering exciting opportunities for manufacturers and retailers, but also real change for consumers, dealers, and service providers. We’re providing everyone, including underserved communities, with a fast, reliable experience regardless of where they are located in the United States,” said Ahuja. “LightSquared will help solve some of the communications and public safety issues we’ve seen during recent national disasters, as well as provide connectivity in rural markets where there is currently no reliable wireless communication. By using satellite coverage, we can ensure constant connectivity, even if the terrestrial network is not available.”

LightSquared controls 59Mhz of nationwide spectrum in the US ‘L band’ (1-2GHz), and while FCC rules allow the company to use ground-based LTE infrastructure to complement its satellite offerings, those same rules dictate that devices on the network must be able to support both satellite and LTE connectivity, which may pose a few problems in sourcing devices.

The company is anticipating commercial launch in the second half of 2011 and will cover at least 100 million Americans by December 31, 2012; 145 million by the end of 2013; and 288 million by the end of 2015. In addition to the $2.9bn of assets already contributed by Harbinger, LightSquared this week announced additional debt and equity financing of up to $1.75bn.

Under the eight year agreement with NSN, the vendor will provide network design, equipment manufacturing and installation, and network operations and maintenance. The nationwide LightSquared network, consisting of approximately 40,000 cellular base stations, will cover 92 per cent of the US population by 2015.

Want to find out more about all the latest LTE news happening in North America?  Attend our LTE North America large-scale conference and exhibition taking place in Dallas, Texas on 10-11 November 2010.  For more information please visit: www.lteconference.com/northamerica

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Intelsat puts a new bird in space

Fixed satellite operator Intelsat this week announced the successful launch of its latest bit of kit, the shiny new Intelsat 15 satellite (IS-15), which will replace the ageing 709 satellite.

The satellite was deployed by a Zenit-3SLB vehicle, launched from facilities at the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Monday and is designed to have a useful life of 17years.

Once IS-15 is operational, customers will use its capacity to deliver services including cellular backhaul, wireless communications to remote locations, enterprise networking, and video services to the Middle East, Indian Ocean region and Russia. The IS-15 carries 22 Ku-band transponders, five of which are owned by broadcaster Sky Perfect JSAT Corp.

“IS-15 is our second launch of 2009, and the second in an 11-satellite launch campaign, the largest in Intelsat’s history. This spacecraft will have a satellite footprint that covers the majority of the Middle East, the Indian Ocean region and Russia, making it an ideal spacecraft for delivering services to customers operating in these regions,” said Dave McGlade, Intelsat CEO.

Analyst forecasts indicate that around two billion more mobile subscribers will be added to the global market by 2013, with rural customers in emerging markets such as the Middle East and Africa accounting for a majority of this growth. And there is evidence of a trend towards the use of satellite networks to cost-effectively backhaul voice and data traffic, as well as a shift toward an all-IP network infrastructure to achieve greater operational efficiencies.

Industry analyst Informa, which recently published a research paper commissioned by satellite-based IP technology firm iDirect, found that operators are realising the advantages of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) satellite networks as an alternative to microwave towers, Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) satellite connectivity and other conventional forms of mobile backhaul.

According to Informa estimates around 58 per cent of operators worldwide currently deploy satellite backhaul technology, and 80 per cent plan to expand their basestation sites further into remote areas in the next five years, with TDMA-based infrastructure accounting for the majority of growth.

Moreover, 83 per cent of carriers have begun implementing IP technology, with major benefits listed including offering internet access, supporting a broad variety of mobile data services and creating a single unified network to lower operating costs, minimize technical complexity and increase network efficiency.