LightSquared's Falcone May Step Down to Save Company
posted Thursday May 3, 2012 by Nicholas DiMeo
The FCC's suspension of the waiver granted to LightSquared to deploy their own, privately funded 4G LTE Advanced network has led to an interesting turn of events in the tech world. LightSquared has since responded to the FCC, claiming the FCC has violates LightSquared's rights. Because of the suspension, Sprint had to look elsewhere for their 4G LTE network and has dumped truckloads of cash into Clearwire, who might have been their next option, only for the company to lose money in Q1 and Sprint had decided to build their own network anyway. Like I said, an interesting time it has been.
Now, Philip Falcone, CEO of LightSquared's top investor, Harbinger Capital, may end up resigning as the public head of the company.
This comes after news that LightSquared defaulted on their last month's payment and may end up having to shut down completely because of the suspension. The Wall Street Journal has reported that sources "familiar with the negotiations" have informed the publication that Falcone's departure may end up with vendors approving an extension to LightSquared's debt waiver.
Neither side has yet to comment on the matter. It appears that Falcone is being pressured into stepping out of the public light after comments were made during the initial news of the suspension that he might be considering bankruptcy as a viable option for the company should they not be allowed to continue their 4G project. Falcone also has made remarks that the FCC is being influenced by special interest groups and that the problem didn't lie inside of LightSquared's network.
There's a lot of ways this can go. Falcone could either step down or not, LightSquared may end up suing the FCC and there is even talk of a potential complete sale of LightSquared to another interested buyer. At the end of the day, I want my new data speeds that make Verizon's current 4G LTE Light speeds a thing of the past.