SES has filed its response to Intelsat’s bankruptcy court, arguing that when the two parties signed the 2018 [C-band] Consortium Agreement SES and Intelsat not only agreed to share equally in any proceeds resulting from clearing the C-Band, but they also agreed to share equally in expenses incurred in connection with their efforts – whether or not the parties realised any proceeds from the C-Band clearing.

SES’s response says that when Intelsat repudiated the Consortium Agreement, Intelsat did not comply with its expense reimbursement obligations, leaving SES on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in expenses incurred on behalf of the C-Band Alliance. The claim is for $11.6 million.

SES claimed a 50/50 share of the C-Band proceeds from the FCC. That claim was denied by the Court back in October last year and is now the subject of an Appeal.

The SES filing further argues: “As litigation concerning the [50/50] claim progressed, Intelsat and SES agreed in no uncertain terms to defer a hearing on the Expense Claims until after litigation concerning the [50/50] claim was fully resolved. Now, with the 50/50 claim subject to a pending appeal in the District Court, Intelsat has ignored SES’s repeated requests that it honor its agreement to defer litigation of the Expense Claims.”

The response further states: “Intelsat’s Objection to SES’s Expense Claims is not ripe for consideration by this Court. As the Debtors acknowledged, Intelsat agreed in October 2021 to defer any hearing on SES’s Expense Claims “until after resolution of the ongoing litigation related to the Debtors’ Objection to Proofs of Claim Filed by SES Americom, and, in the Alternative, Motion Seeking Equitable Subordination of Claims.”

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Optimism under threat at SES
2. Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
3. Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
4. SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
5. IRIS2 already in trouble?
6. Intelsat contemplates next steps
7. SpaceX: 2.7m customers and $180bn value
8. Boeing, Virgin Galactic in court battle
9. Jupiter-3 a changemaker

Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite, Policy

Tags: cband, Intelsat, SES