LTE wholesaler Lightsquared inked two deals this week to provide LTE access to a regional wireless carrier and a major electronics retailers. Earlier this week, the 4G wholesaler announced it had signed a roaming deal with Leap Wireless. Under the agreement, Leap subsidiary Cricket would be able to use Lightsquared’s LTE network for its 4G service. Cricket customers would be able to roam on Lightsquared’s LTE network.
Lightsquared also announced today that it has signed an MVNO agreement with best Buy. Best buy would resell the LTE service as part of its Best Buy Connect service. A trial of the service will begin early next year and additional details on the agreement will be announced soon. Best Buy Connect currently offers 3G mobile broadband service on Sprint’s network and has a deal with Clearwire to offer WiMAX.
Unlike Clearwire which is building out a 4G WiMAX network and reselling it directly to customers, Lightsquared is a pure wholesaler. “We will never compete with our customers for end users,” Lightsquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja said.The company’s business model is based on building out a coast to coast network and selling access to the network to third party providers. Lightsquared’s primary network will be driven by LTE with satellite service providing wireless coverage in remote areas. The 4G network will be operated and maintained by Nokia Siemens Networks and includes about 40,000 cellular base stations. The will cover 92 percent of the U.S. population by 2015.