In March of last year, Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners completed a $262.5 million acquisition of SkyTerra Communications Inc., a provider of satellite communications services. Then, on July 10, 2010, and revealed its plans to offer wholesale wireless broadband services based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. To build out its nationwide network, LightSquared signed a deal with infrastructure provider Nokia Siemens Networks valued at $7 billion over eight years.

To run the company, Falcone chose telecom industry veteran Ahuja, who had served as CEO of the France-based Orange Group from 2004 through 2007. SkyTerra's major asset was its access to approximately 59MHz of wireless spectrum, most of it in the 1.6GHz frequency range--an ideal footprint for wireless services.

The original plan called for LightSquared to offer a combination satellite and wireless service, but in January the FCC to use its spectrum for wireless-only services. This arrangement will be more affordable to LightSquared and any partners it may contract with, because devices that connect to the network will carry only cellular radios inside, instead of expensive satellite links.

The company still faces some regulatory opposition regarding claims that its network with weaker Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) transmissions in nearby bands, but LightSquared and the FCC are working together to ensure that GPS signals aren't compromised; are due this summer.