Welcome to a New Era of Spectrum Speculation

Reportedly, LightSquared, the company trying to create a wholesale, fourth-generation, wireless network, is thinking about an initial public offering. While part of me loves the idea of reading the details behind the network operator that doesn't yet have a network in the S-1 filing, there’s a huge part of me that says the company is planning to take investors for a ride using the current spectrum crisis as cover for a questionable business plan. Because, at the end of the day, what LightSquared has right now is 53 MHz of spectrum, an interference problem with GPS in some of that spectrum, and lots of plans. Yes, back in the days of the bubble, IPOs were built on less, but I think LightSquared may be milking the spectrum crisis. The rallying cry of that crisis claims the U.S. will run out of spectrum by 2013 and the demand for mobile broadband will overtake the nation’s cellular networks and grind them to a halt.