LightSquared, the US LTE wholesale network operator, has secured US$850 million in a debt financing process led by UBS, which it said will be used for “general corporate purposes which include constructing its world-class, 4G LTE wholesale network.” The company now says that it has access to more than US$2 billion of funding: a July 2010 report suggested that the contract to build the network alone was worth US$7 billion to supplier Nokia Siemens Networks. Separately, Harbinger Capital Partners, the private equity fund backing LightSquared, said that it is “reviewing its options” with regard to its investment in satellite communications company Inmarsat, following press reports that it would dispose of part of its holding in order to generate additional cash to support LightSquared; it noted that “no decision has yet been taken as to any transaction by Harbinger involving the share capital of Inmarsat.”

LightSquared also says it has “signed its first wholesale agreements and is in advanced negotiations with numerous potential customers,” although it did not state who its new partners are. It says that “given this strong early indication of demand for capacity on its 4G-LTE wholesale network,” it has opted to bring forward “phase 2” of a co-operation agreement with Inmarsat, in order to gain increased access to spectrum controlled by the satellite operator in return for annual lease payments. LightSquared’s only announced commercial deal to date has been an agreement to lease spectrum to Airspan Networks, a provider of machine-to-machine solutions for the US utility sector, although this does not include use of LightSquared’s network – only part of the spectrum that it owns. It has previously been suggested that LightSquared may sell some of its spectrum to a mobile operator looking to increase its own frequency holdings.