RESTON, Va., April 21, 2011 – LightSquared™, the nation’s first, wholesale-only integrated 4G-LTE wireless broadband and satellite network, and SI Wireless, a partnership of rural independent telephone companies, delivering 3G-CDMA/EVDO technology to rural parts of Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, have entered into a bilateral roaming agreement.
This agreement will provide subscribers of SI Wireless with a nationwide 4G-LTE footprint as well as satellite coverage in rural areas where there is no terrestrial network. It will also expand LightSquared’s data coverage to additional rural communities in the SI Wireless coverage area.
“This agreement is key to our vision of delivering the most advanced communications services to our customers,” said SI Wireless Chief Executive Officer, Terry Addington. “We understand that subscribers of Tier 2 and 3 carriers expect access to the most advanced technology nationwide and LightSquared’s business model is completely aligned with the coverage and capacity needs of rural operators, allowing them to compete with their larger competitors.”
“SI Wireless’ plan to deliver wireless services throughout rural underserved markets underscores LightSquared’s vision to provide universal broadband connectivity throughout the U.S.,” said Sanjiv Ahuja, Chairman and CEO of LightSquared. “We are delighted to partner with rural operators from all over the country – offering them our nationwide 4G-LTE and satellite coverage and capacity through our wholesale-only model at attractive rates – it is our wholesale-only business model that enables a wide range of partnerships from established carriers with thousands or millions of subscribers to greenfield start-up operators like SI Wireless.”
