US wholesale LTE operator LightSquared has secured US$586 million of funding in the form of a loan from UBS AG and JP Morgan. The company says it will use the finance for “general corporate purposes” as it attempts to deploy the country’s first wholesale-only hybrid satellite/LTE network. In a statement, Sanjiv Ahuja, CEO, said:  “Our investors share our belief that now is the time for a wholesale model to succeed, as we will bring desperately-needed 4G capacity to businesses, consumers, government and public safety users through a wide variety of retail partners which will sell services based on our integrated terrestrial and satellite network. We are deploying the most advanced network while offering service at a lower price, because as a pure wholesaler, we will not have retail overhead.” In the last seven months LightSquared has raised more than US$2 billion in debt and equity.

The company plans to go commercial in the third quarter of 2011 and is using Nokia Siemens Networks as its infrastructure vendor. It is reported to have signed agreements with its first five customers – “two carriers, a national retailer, a device manufacturer and a website” – although this has yet to be confirmed by the parties involved. US LTE networks have already been launched (on a retail basis) by MetroPCS and Verizon Wireless, with AT&T due to switch on next year.