LightSquared has inked a deal with Best Buy under which the retailer will offer 4G service via the Lightsquared network.
Customers of the Best Buy Connect mobile broadband service will be able to access 4G service via LightSquared, the company's CEO, Sanjiv Ahuja, said during a Wednesday keynote at the CTIA Wireless show in Orlando.
He had few details about the arrangement, except to say that the two companies were looking to start a trial of the service in the first quarter of 2012. More details will be available in the next few weeks, he said.
LightSquared owns a satellite communications network but wants to get into the more popular and profitable land-based cellular business. It has asked the FCC for a conditional waiver so it can broadcast much more powerful land-based signals, a move that has prompted concern from the GPS industry.
LightSquared plans to launch its network later this year and offer wholesale service to other companies - like Best Buy - which would sell the service under their own names. LightSquared service could appear under cable companies' names, for instance.
Ahuja also championed Lightsquared's 4G roaming agreement with Cricket, which is working with Qualcomm to get LightSquared's unusual frequency band integrated into Qualcomm chipsets for future phones.