LightSquared teams with Smarter Car for in-vehicle mobile services

Wholesale LTE provider LightSquared announced its first machine-to-machine partnership, teaming with vehicle data services firm Smarter Car to connect auto dealers with motorists.

Per terms of the deal, Smarter Car will leverage LightSquared's nationwide 4G-LTE network to enable dealers and drivers to leverage critical data including location sharing, vehicle maintenance diagnostics and in-car applications via smartphones, tablets or PCs. Smarter Car will sell devices and connectivity directly to auto dealerships, which will in turn offer data services to consumers when they purchase new cars. All Smarter Car devices will attach to an On-Board Diagnostics-specified port and connect to LightSquared's satellite, guaranteeing that vehicles remain connected even when they travel out of cellular range. 

LightSquared plans to launch commercial services in an unspecified number of major markets in the second half of next year and projects its network will cover Sprint Nextel's (NYSE:S) entire current 3G network footprint by 2014. Smarter Car joins a list of LightSquared wholesale customers stretching from Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) to Aircado--last month, LightSquared teamed with digital radio platform Soundtracker to deliver geo-social mobile music services.

For more:
- read this release

Related articles:
LightSquared, Soundtracker team for geo-social mobile music service
Survey: 28% of American adults using mobile location services
ComScore: Mobile map access up 39% since 2010