Nokia Siemens bags $7-bn US wireless broadband network contract
21 Jul 2010
Harbinger Capital Partners, a US-based private investment fund, yesterday awarded a $7 billion contract to Nokia Siemens Networks to build and operate 4G-LTE wireless broadband network integrated with satellite coverage in the US.
The $7-billion contract is in one of the largest deals in the industry's history.
New-York-based Harbinger Capital with $10 billion in assets under management, has formed a new telecom network venture called LightSquared for launching its nationwide 4G-LTE wireless broadband project, which will be headed by the former CEO of France Telecom's Orange mobile Sanjiv Ahuja.
LightSquared, which will be providing wholesale wireless to ISPs, cable operators, mobile device makers, content providers and others, will be competing with AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.
The nationwide LightSquared network will consist of approximately 40,000 cellular base stations that will cover 92 per cent of the US population by 2015.
LightSquared' 4G-LTE wireless broadband network will be integrated with satellite coverage that will revolutionise communications in the US and will be the nation's first wholesale-only integrated wireless broadband and satellite network, said Harbinger in a statement.