Effective immediately, Marc Montagner is the new Chief Financial Office of LightSquared, the wireless operator that’s trying to get approval to turn on their network, but can’t seem to prove that they don’t break GPS. Now Marc’s name may not sound familiar, but he used to work at Sprint where he orchestrated the merger with Nextel back in 2005. Sprint ended up writing off 80% of Nextel’s value just 3 years later because the merger was so difficult to execute. So let’s recap: Here’s a guy who cost Sprint almost $30 billion, now in charge of running the books of a wireless operator that’s managed by a hedge fund who signed a deal last year whereby Sprint builds and maintains the LightSquared network over the next decade and a half … are you having as much difficulty wrapping your head around this as we are? Do you think Marc was put in place so that Sprint could effectively buy LightSquared and use their spectrum?
Something here just smells too fishy. Why is LightSquared signing so many deals when companies can’t be assured that LightSquared will even be allowed to build a network? Why is LightSquared going to outsource their network to Sprint, who is already in the process of rebuilding their network to easier support the insane amount of bands and technologies they have to maintain for legacy customers? Call us suspicious, but we think LightSquared is Sprint’s way of getting a “do over” from the folly known as Clearwire. Both LightSquared and Clearwire have the same goal, they just both use different technologies, and actually Clearwire has already said that they’re going to switch to the same technology that LightSquared wants to use.
Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for Dish Network, who actually has a chance at becoming a serious player should they end up merging with T-Mobile. 2012 is looking to be one seriously insane year.