LightSquared of Reston, Va., over the past several weeks successfully transitioned the first 50,000 customers from a pair of legacy communications spacecraft to its new SkyTerra 1 satellite, the company announced Aug. 3.
The first tranch of customers to use the SkyTerra 1 satellite, which was launched in November 2010, are public-safety users and enterprise customers in the oil, natural gas and maritime industries, LightSquared said in a press release. Other LightSquared customers will continue to be transitioned to the new satellite through the rest of the year, company spokesman Chris Stern said Aug. 5.
LightSquared, which is owned by Harbinger Capital Partners, plans to use the SkyTerra 1 satellite as part of a hybrid satellite-terrestrial consumer broadband network. A number of technical reports have shown that the LightSquared terrestrial components could interfere with GPS service in the United States, and the Federal Communications Commission has yet to formally approve the network’s construction.
