Ligado attempts to unravel Inmarsat L-band agreement
February 6, 2025
Ligado Networks is in Chapter 11 restructuring, and is fighting to block attempts from Inmarsat and Viasat to halt its financial rescue and refinancing. Inmarsat, now part of Viasat, is looking to recover its former L-band frequencies and capacity from the restructuring.
Inmarsat had previously leased the L-band spectrum to Ligado in 2007 for a period of 99 years. Ligado is in the process of suing its former partner Inmarsat over that 2007 spectrum leasing agreement, and is seeking to recoup up to $1.7 billion in payments under the agreement.
Ligado, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in January, has allegedly said that UK-based Inmarsat has violated the 2007 agreement meant to coordinate the two companies’ use of in-demand radio frequencies for mobile communications and other commercial uses.
Inmarsat, says the lawsuit, failed to make required upgrades to its satellite network and continued to demand payments from Ligado, despite the fact that a dispute with the US government prevented Ligado from monetising the leased spectrum, according to a complaint filed in the Delaware bankruptcy court.
An Inmarsat spokesman has said that the complaint had no legal merit and was replete with “unfounded allegations”.
Reuters reports that Inmarsat attorney Laura Davis Jones told a court hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, that Ligado was $500 million behind on its contractually required lease payments, with additional obligations accruing quarterly.
“We see it very differently,” Jones told US Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Horan, who is overseeing Ligado’s Chapter 11 case. “Inmarsat has not been paid for years.”
Ligado is also suing the US Department of Defense and other US federal agencies over their decision to block it from using a portion of the wireless spectrum that was allocated to Ligado by the US Federal Communications Commission.
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