Sprint May Have to Return $65 Million to LightSquared

Sprint Nextel said it would have to return $65 million to Philip Falcone's LightSquared if the hedge-fund manager's wireless venture fails to get final Federal Communications Commission approval by a mid-March deadline between the two companies.

LightSquared made the payments to Sprint last year as part of the companies' 15-year agreement to share network buildout expenses and wireless airwaves. Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse said in January that the carrier had put its investment in LightSquared on hold as it worked to resolve concerns its network interferes with global positioning systems. LightSquared agreed to pay Sprint $9 billion for access to the carrier's network equipment and services, as well as about $4.5 billion in credits Sprint could use to buy capacity from LightSquared once its network was built. LightSquared said the agreement would help it save about $13 billion through the end of the decade.