| Stick a fork in 'em This entire venture was a Hail Mary pass from the outset, but it got some traction when major carriers like Sprint signed on. Now, we can argue all day whose fault the GPS interference is, but the fact remains that it's a huge problem that will cost a whole lot of money to solve. Had LightSquared offered to pony up the cash to implement a solution, they might have had a chance of, if not getting the GPS industry and its users on board, at least looking sympathetic enough to get a spectrum swap out of the deal, which is rumored to be what they wanted in the first place. Instead, they offered solutions that might or might not work and then demanded that the folks already using GPS pay to implement them. Not smart on LightSquared's part. They'd already ticked these people off by planning to deploy something that everyone agrees will degrade GPS to some degree, and then they made it worse by demanding that GPS users pay to fix a mess that many argue is being created by LightSquared themselves. I'm no expert on anything (though I play one on the Internet), but even I know that you don't spit in the faces of that many companies, government agencies, and end users and hope to win. Sure, LightSquared had support from some carriers, but those carriers can always look at other options if necessary, so they'll only stand by LightSquared as long as the business model seems sound, and, right now, it's looking about as solid as a grass hut in a hurricane.
In short, LightSquared looks like the drunk asshole who wanders into a bar for the first time and decides to pick a fight with all the regulars in the place...all at once. Not smart, not smart at all. |
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 r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX | Actually spring did not sign on to use LS network.
LS signed on to use sprints network and to pay sprint for it.
Sprint gave them no traction.
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr. |
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| Actually LS had a contract with Sprint for Sprint to build out the LS networked. |
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| True, but having Sprint's name associated with them lent them credibility that they wouldn't have had otherwise. |
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