To the surprise of very few, LightSquared has filed for Bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11.
Given that the firm has virtually no path forward to use its frequencies to provide 4G-type services in light (no pun intended) of the apparently unresolvable GPS interference issues, Chapter 11 gives LightSquared a way to step back and see what it can salvage of their operations.
In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, in most cases, the debtor remains in control of its business and operations as a “debtor in possession.” The day-to-day operations are subject to the oversight and jurisdiction of the federal court (and typically the trustee). The goals of a Chapter 11 proceeding is for the company to find the cash to emerge from bankruptcy having paid its creditors some portion of the amount due, cancelling or renegotiating some contracts, and then resuming normal operations after completing the bankruptcy.
It seems pretty clear to me that the $9B contract LightSquared entered into with Sprint will be a target for cancellation. That will place even more pressure on Sprint to fund its Network Vision project.
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding is is very different from Chapter 7 proceeding.
In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy action the business ceases its regular operations. The court-appointed trustee sells off all of the business’s assets and distributes the sale proceeds to the creditors. If there’s any money leftover after all the creditors are paid, that balance is returned to the owners/shareholders of the bankrupt company, and the company ceases to exist.
Sometimes a firm starting out on a Chapter 11 bankruptcy path can still end up shutting down. It would not surprise me if that’s the case with LightSquared, especially if they are forced to sell off their licensed frequencies.
PBS Frontline in conjunction with ProPublica will present “Cell Tower Deaths” premiering on May 22, 2012 on PBS stations. No, this story is NOT about radio frequency emissions concerns. Rather, it focuses on the risk of building and servicing cell towers. Those risks are significant.
According to PBS:
The smartphone revolution comes with a hidden cost. A joint investigation by FRONTLINE and ProPublica explores the hazardous work of independent contractors who are building and servicing America’s expanding cellular infrastructure. While some tower climbers say they are under pressure to cut corners, layers of subcontracting make it difficult for safety inspectors to determine fault when a tower worker is killed or injured.
Why are tower workers 10-times more likely to die than regular construction workers (as claimed by PBS)?
Take a look at the clip. About 36 second in to the Dirty Jobs clip you’ll see the owner of a tower construction company attach his safety belt hook to a tower section not yet bolted to the rest of the tower.
In my opinion, what you see at that moment is an amazing deadly lack of judgment, especially for the owner of a tower construction company. Even if he’s double tied-off to the tower, were the free-floating tower section were to fly off or drop, he would be split in two (metaphorically, if not in reality). I wonder if his poor judgment is a model for his employees? I certainly hope not. I’ll bet his Workers Comp insurance carrier hopes not, as well.
Attached to this posting are the slides I used today during my portion of the T-Mobile External Affairs Headliner Series presentation. I’ve also attached John Pestle’s slides.
John Pestle of Varnum and I have been invited to speak on this month’s T-Mobile’s National External Affairs Headliner Speaker Series. This is a monthly conference call/webinar with hundreds of internal and external T-Mobile executives, managers, line-level staff, and outside contractors.
The title of our lecture, thought up by T-Mobile, is “If the Tower Doesn’t Grow, Can Municipalities Say No?”
The conference call is scheduled for Wednesday, April 25th at 11am PST/2pm EST.
If you’re invited, you should already have the call-in information. If not, you’ll have to contact External Affairs to get it.
This should be fun! I have lots of slides to share.
Heck, I’ve always wanted to be a headliner!
(Added 4/23 at 8:50 a.m. PDT: I’ve received several questions asking if non-T-Mobiler’s can sit in on the call. The answer is that I wish I could say yes. This is a closed webinar, so you’ll have to ask your contact at T-Mobile External Affairs whether you can join in. -jlk)
The State Bar of California has granted 1.0 hours of MCLE credit for attorneys attending Jonathan’s Sec. 6409 Webinar on April 5th. This follows the American Planning Association’s approval of Certification Maintenance credit of 1.0 hours for LAW.
If you are a government attorney outside of California, you may still be able to receive CLE credit in your jurisdiction using the Uniform Certificate of Attendance which will be issued after the webinar.
If you are with a government and wish to attend the Webinar at no charge (MCLE and CM credits are also at no charge), please visit http://Bit.ly/sec6409 for more information and to sign up. About 70% of the available webinar ports have now been taken, so please don’t delay.
The American Planning Association has approved 1 hour of LAW CM credit APA members participating on KTLF’s 4/5/12 Webinar regarding the new wireless collocation rules (Sec. 6409). California MCLE credit is pending. Open only to governments; No charge for governments.
More information and sign up: http://bit.ly/sec6409.
Okay, it sounds wild, but let’s look at this for a bit…
Sprint has committed $15B to Apple in connection with securing rights to market the iPhone to Sprint’s subscribers (let’s not talk about the newest Apple product, the iHeatingPad). That’s a lot of cash, and I’ll bet that Apple’s contract leave virtually no room . . . → Read More: Might Apple buy Sprint?
By Christy O'Berry, Esq., LL.M., P.E., on March 20th, 2012
Sprint, whose original “4G” network was to be built on a WiMax platform, is moving to deploy an LTE network in place of WiMax. This means that Sprint is currently running 2 types of “4G” technology on its network, LTE and WiMax.
I had a chance to legitimately listen in on the PCIA’s webinar last week providing their membership with the industry’s view of how the new rules are to be used, and taught to local governments.
I won’t go into much detail now about the PCIA’s webinar now, other than to say three things:
I’ve been talking with a number of my friends who are in the wireless siting business as contractors. These are the people, mostly independent contractors, who show up at the planning counter to file siting projects representing the wireless carriers. They perform important functions in the wireless permitting process. I have great respect for the . . . → Read More: Wireless Siting Professionals: A Vanishing Breed?
To the surprise of very few, LightSquared has filed for Bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11.
