More details have emerged on US hedge-fund Harbinger’s plan to build a wholesale LTE network in the US, with a Bloomberg report noting that the venture is in advanced talks to lease its spectrum to ‘US technology companies’ and it has already reached agreements with device makers. Sanjiv Ahuja, CEO of the new network – known as ‘LightSquared’ – said the operation wants to serve “every player in this industry, from the largest to the smallest,” including wireless, wireline and cable providers, as well as device makers and game manufacturers. The venture will reportedly expand to 500 employees from about 350 now.

Interestingly, analysts quoted in the Bloomberg report claim the venture is most likely to sell its spectrum to a carrier, rather than continue to lease it over time. Harbinger founder Philip Falcone “is a very savvy investor who knows that spectrum is a valuable asset and that the current carriers need more of it,” noted Piper Jaffray & Co analyst Chris Larsen. “This plan could pressure an incumbent into making a play for the assets.” Certainly, deployment of LightSquared’s operation – which plans to combine terrestrial networks with coverage from two satellites – won’t come cheap; Ahuja told Bloomberg that the company needs to raise more money beyond the initial US$1.75 billion in commitments it announced last month. Piper Jaffray’s Larsen said it will need to raise an additional US$5 billion or more if it is to achieve its goal of creating a national network to reach at least 260 million people in the next five years. Only last month it announced it has awarded Nokia Siemens Networks a US$7 billion contract to deploy the network. The report concludes with a statement that LightSquared will begin trials in Baltimore, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver by early 2011.