Back on August 1st 2023, your author somewhat optimistically wrote ‘SES vs Intelsat nears conclusion‘. How wrong that was. The headline was based on a successful appeal won by SES and an instruction made by the appeal court Judge Robert Payne to the lower court to find in SES’s favour.

“The judgement of the Bankruptcy Court will be reversed,” stated Judge Payne.

The case involves the amount SES should receive from the FCC’s compensation pay-out over C-band frequencies handed over for 5G usage. Intelsat received a larger portion of the FCC’s compensation, and this is the basis for SES’s claim for a 50/50 split.

That appeal court’s decision was challenged by Intelsat’s lawyers, which prompted a response by SES and that response has now generated Intelsat’s further view of the decision.

Intelsat’s 25-page argument starts by saying: “The record evidence has not changed, and neither SES’s read of the Consortium Agreement nor its spin of the facts has improved with age. As before, SES simply refuses to engage with the complete trial record because it cannot explain the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Instead, yet again, SES regurgitates its tired and generic narrative, refusing to examine any detail of the Agreement, the key documents, or testimony relevant to the parties’ intent, or to offer any supportable response to the unassailable conclusion that the “Project” in the parties’ Consortium Agreement was limited to a market-based approach to reallocation of the C-Band spectrum. SES is simply not entitled to funds the FCC made individually available, solely to Intelsat, for work that Intelsat performed by itself.”

Far be it that Inside Satellite comments again on this case ever coming to a conclusion… As (usually) always, the only winners in this now never-ending case will be the lawyers.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Virgin Galactic in stock split
2. Thuraya-3 suffers major problem
3. AST SpaceMobile hit by Class Action
4. Optimism under threat at SES
5. Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
6. Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
7. SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
8. IRIS2 already in trouble?
9. Intelsat contemplates next steps

Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: FCC, Intelsat, SES