LightSquared pays $56.3 million to Inmarsat, gets two more years to seek approval for LTE network

Struggling company LightSquared has bought itself two more years to try to launch its 4G LTE network. Today, LightSquared announced that it had reached a deal with satellite provider Inmarsat that would let it delay its payments until after March 31st, 2014. The company paid off an outstanding debt of $56.25 million to Inmarsat, but it won’t need to make the $29.6 million payment that was due late last month.

LightSquared interim CEO Doug Smith said that this amended agreement “allows LightSquared an opportunity to focus its efforts on obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals” for its new network, which was shot down by the FCC because it could potentially interfere with GPS service. LightSquared still has plenty of problems, and its fight against the FCC decision looks increasingly unlikely to be successful. However, it’s at least managed to extricate itself from its debt to Inmarsat without going into bankruptcy, as backer Philip Falcone previously hinted it might.