LightSquared snags Open Range as network partner

LightSquared said it has entered into a multi-year network partnership agreement with Colorado-based rural telecommunications provider Open Range Inc.
The deal calls for Open Range to lease capacity from LightSquared’s satellite operations to provide wireless broadband services as well as a nationwide reciprocal roaming agreement. The deal is also subject to a review by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Utilities Program and approval of spectrum lease arrangements by the Federal Communications Commission.
In 2008 Open Range garnered approval for $267 million in loans from the federal government’s RDUP to deliver high-speed wireless broadband services using WiMAX technology to more than six million people in 546 rural communities across 17 states within five years. Those states include Arkansas, Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
That initial loan was augmented in early 2009 by an additional $100 million in financing from JPMorgan & Chase Co.’s One Equity Partners.
Open Range’s initial plans were to lease mobile satellite spectrum from Globalstar Inc. to deploy its services.
“The partnership with LightSquared helps fulfill our vision of delivering the most advanced and interoperable broadband wireless communications services to un-served and underserved rural communities across America,” said Open Range CEO and founder Bill Beans in a statement. “The combination of satellite and ancillary terrestrial component services provides the only feasible way to offer meaningful ubiquitous nationwide rural broadband and meet President Obama’s goals,”
LightSquared last month completed post-launch testing and acceptance of its recently deployed SkyTerra 1 satellite with its Space-Based Network platform from Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. The testing included the transmission of data between the satellite and four terrestrial gateways located in the United States and Canada.