LightSquared inks roaming deals with two rural cellular providers

Even as it fights off alarmist views that its combined wireless/satellite network will disrupt GPS and cause the sky--or at least the airplanes flying in it--to fall, LightSquared continues to gain support from wholesale customers. The wireless carrier is reportedly in talks with cable operators like Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) even as it continues to bulk up on more traditional partners.

In the last several days the Reston, Va.-based start-up said that signed bilateral roaming agreements to provide Cellular South and SI Wireless subscribers with a nationwide 4G-LTE footprint and satellite coverage in rural areas.

Ridgeland, Miss.-based Cellular South has about 1,100 customers in the Southeast U.S. SI Wireless is a partnership of independent telephone companies in rural parts of Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In both instances, the moves show that "LightSquared's business model is completely aligned with the coverage and capacity needs of rural operators," said SI Wireless CEO Terry Addington in a news release.

For more:
- see this news release
- and this news release

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