Airspan Networks Inc (fka AIRO)

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One thing I did find interesting with the Airspan deal with Lightsquared last year was an apparent the LTE/WiMax disconnect.

This is Lightsquared:

LightSquared is a new nationwide 4G-LTE open wireless broadband network

And this is Airspan:

Airspan is a leading 4G wireless solution-provider.

Of course at the time they only offered Wimax solutions. It seemed strange to have an LTE network teaming up with a Wimax only company. It had, at the time, seemed like a disconnect. That was, of course, until Airspan announced in February a hybrid LTE/WiMax system they had developed.

http://www.airspan.com/press-releases/1964/airspan-announces-air4g-4g-lte-base-station/

So then it seemed to make sense, now that they were moving closer to LTE. Why I bring this all up now is because of the recent activity between Lightsquared and Sprint. This has made me rethink some of what happened, could it be related to the Sprint deal? Some of the Sprint aspirations certainly seem to fit how Airspan has been positioning themselves.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/sprint-sets-4g-plans-with-lightsquared-wimax-with-dash-of-lte/52365

Simply put, Sprint’s vision is that it will use multiple wireless technologies including both LTE and WiMax

One big issue for the LTE-WiMax hybrid network will be the hand off between the two technologies. As noted before, the handoff from WiMax to 3G is jarring. And on LTE the hand-off is just as bad. What happens when you put WiMax, LTE and 3G in the network blender?

Could Airspan somehow tie in here? Interesting that Sprint is aiming for a similar hybrid system, in much the same way that Airspan is focused on providing solutions for this market. Could it be possible Lightsquared partner Airspan is playing a bigger role here than meets the eye.

And finally, just an additional sidenote, along with its retooling of it's products that seems to mirror some of Sprint's retooling, AIRO filed a 15-12g, then reincorporated in Delaware, and have been silent on the filings front since.