Ligado sues Inmarsat
January 8, 2025
By Chris Forrester
On January 6th Ligado Networks entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction. January 7th opened a legal action against London-based Inmarsat over a 2007 spectrum and capacity leasing agreement.
Inmarsat, now owned by California-based Viasat, allegedly owes Ligado $1.7 billion (€1.65bn) in payment under the agreement says the action. Ligado is arguing that the UK-based satellite telecommunications company has violated the 2007 agreement which was meant to coordinate the two companies’ use of in-demand radio frequencies for mobile communications and similar commercial uses.
“Over a 17-year period, Ligado paid Inmarsat over $1.7 billion in fees, while Inmarsat willfully avoided performing its contractual duties to upgrade its own satellite terminals,” said Ligado CEO Doug Smith. “In fact, due to its choice to delay upgrading its terminals, Inmarsat is likely still years away from completing the upgrades required under the Agreement.”
The action alleges that Inmarsat not only failed to make the pre-agreed upgrades to its satellite network, and in particular antennas used on aircraft and vessels, but continued to demand payments from Ligado.
Inmarsat said the claim had no merit and was full of “unfounded allegations”. Other Inmarsat comments made in a preliminary Court hearing in Delaware on January 7th included that Ligado was $500 million behind on its contractually required lease payments, with additional obligations accruing quarterly and that “Inmarsat had not been paid for years” by Ligado.
Ligado announced its restructuring plan on January 6th alongside a major potential agreement to lease its spectrum holdings to low Earth orbit satellite operator AST SpaceMobile, which aims to use the radio waves to improve its proposed direct-to-smartphone satellite-based connectivity service.