Sprint to LightSquared: it's over

The writing's been on the wall for a few weeks and now Sprint's officially severing its partnership with LightSquared. Philip Falcone's project had a contractual deadline of March 15th to gain regulatory approval for its LTE service on the 1.6GHz spectrum, which was shot down by the FCC in February. A day later, Big Yellow exercised its right to pull the plug, paying back $65 million in prepayments and continuing to build out a LTE network on its own. Nextel's better half didn't slam the door shut entirely, however. If, by some miracle (and it would be a big one), the company can change Julius Genachowski's mind, it'd certainly consider teaming up again, so no hard feelings, eh?

For its part, LightSquared has issued a formal response, saying that the contract termination is in "the best interests of both parties" and "not unexpected given the regulatory delays." On the upside, the company has had its coffers swelled by a not inconsiderable $65 million, which is the first good news it's had for a while.