The rumors were true, folks. Sprint's going LTE with LightSquared in a 15-year deal. It sounds a little backward, but the gist is this: LightSquared's going to pay Sprint around $9 billion in cash over 11 years, and in exchange Sprint gets up to 50 percent of LightSquared's "L-Band" LTE spectrum through credits.
LightSquared comes out ahead, too, lowering its operating costs and network capital by more than $13 billion over the next eight years by making use of Sprint's infrastructure. LightSquared also will provide 3G roaming for Sprint.
So when can you see an LTE smartphone on Sprint? That's still going to be a while, with LightSquared's first 4G markets (which weren't disclosed) not going online until 2012. So, for now, it's still WiMax. LightSquared's expects to complete its nationwide 4G rollout in 2014.
Also, Sprint this morning announced its Q2 2011 earnings, noting revenues of $8.3 billion, and a net loss of $847 million
