[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-05-10] LightSquared has acquired an $850 million credit facility from UBS AG and will accelerate its capacity lease deal with Inmarsat to begin by the end of this year, LightSquared announced Oct. 4.
    LightSquared, the result of an eight-year, $7 billion joint venture announced in July between Harbinger Capital Partners and Nokia Siemens Networks, will be issued the credit facility over a term of four years. The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and to build its planned 4G-LTE-wholesale network, which will rely on satellites and terrestrial spectrum that Harbinger acquired through its $280 million purchase of SkyTerra in March.
    With this additional $850 million, LightSquared has obtained an aggregate of more than $2 billion in equity and debt proceeds and in commitments. 
    LightSquared also said it will accelerate the implementation of its Phase 2 cooperation agreement with Inmarsat, initially announced in August, to the 2010 fourth quarter. The deal stems from a    December 2007 contract was signed between Inmarsat and SkyTerra, which is now LightSquared, to design a phased plan to reband and reuse L-band spectrum covering North America and increase the contiguous spectrum available to support the deployment of 4G ancillary terrestrial component services and protect the continued deployment and growth of MSS activities in North America.
    Under Phase 1, Inmarsat will implement a modified spectrum plan over a period of 18 months. LightSquared will make a series of payments to Inmarsat with a total value of $337.5 million. The initial payment of $81.25 million has been made, and LightSquared will make five payments of $40 million every three months, with the final installment slated for 15 five months after the Phase 1 trigger date. Upon completion of the first phase, LightSquared will pay another $56.25 million.
    Under Phase 2 of the deal, LightSquared will lease spectrum controlled by Inmarsat for annual payments of $115 million, the first of which will be due upon delivery of notice by LightSquared to Inmarsat.
    In a statement, LightSquared Chairman and CEO Sanjiv Ahuja said the agreement gives the company access to necessary contiguous spectrum needed to support additional network capacity. “By accelerating Phase 2 of the Inmarsat Cooperation Agreement, we will be able to utilize and deploy additional spectrum earlier than anticipated, further enhancing the capacity of LightSquared’s 4G-LTE-wholesale network.”
    LightSquared plans to launch in its first markets by the middle of 2011 and aims to provide coverage to 92 percent of the United States by 2015.

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