[SatNews] According to Bloomberg, LightSquared, the $7B Long Term Evolution (LTE) open-access mobile network that will use satellite spectrum (acquired by New York investment firm Harbinger Capital) has obtained a four-year $750M loan from UBS.

The loan will reportedly be secured by assets and subsidiaries belonging to LightSquared, Bloomberg suggests, citing two unnamed sources. In July 2010, LightSquared announced that it had secured $1.75B in initial funding commitments. The company, which has access to 59MHz of spectrum, has said its network will consist of around 40,000 cellular base stations covering 92 percent of the US population by 2015. LightSquared is planning initial LTE trials in Baltimore, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix, with commercial launches planned for the third quarter of 2011.

South Korean cellco SK Telecom has also claimed that it is considering investing approximately $100M in LightSquared’s network. An SK Telecom spokesperson confirmed that talks are underway, but terms have yet to be agreed. The investment is designed to put into practice SK Telecom’s IPE (Industry Productivity Enhancement) business model, which is tailored to fit overseas markets. The mobile operator's previous attempt to expand in the US through a joint venture with Earthlink failed. In June 2008, SK Telecom agreed to sell its unprofitable US mobile unit, Helio, for $39M in stock to Virgin Mobile USA, which was subsequently acquired by Sprint Nextel.