Nokia Siemens Networks wins $7 billion LTE contract

Harbinger Capital has awarded eight-year, $7 billion contract to Nokia Siemens Networks to build and operate a LTE network for wireless providers and other businesses.

Harbinger Capital has awarded eight-year, $7 billion contract to Nokia Siemens Networks to build and operate a LTE network for wireless providers and other businesses.

The new venture named as ‘LightSquared’ will rely on satellites and terrestrial spectrum that Harbinger acquired through its purchase of Reston-based SkyTerra earlier this year and will provide mobile high-speed Internet service . 

In April Harbinger had selected Sanjiv Ahuja, a former chief executive of France Telecom’s Orange subsidiary, as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of its new nationwide 4G-LTE wireless broadband company.

According to The Washington Post report,  The new network LightSquared would control 59 Mhz of nationwide spectrum, satellites and will consist of 40,000 base stations. LightSquared plans to launch in its first markets by mid 2011 and hopes to have 92 percent coverage of the United States by 2015.

In an interview to Washington  Post, Ahuja said, the venture sees its customer base as a wide-ranging group including wireless carriers, device makers, and retailers such as Best Buy and WalMart that want to provide high-speed mobile services

Two wireless giants Verizon and AT&T would not be able to purchase the SkyTerra spectrum was accepted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as one of the conditions attached to Harbinger’s purchase of Reston, Va.-based SkyTerra.