Ligado’s bankruptcy clean-up continues
July 13, 2026
According to Bloomberg Law, the Ligado Networks saga continues with the satellite operator seeking Bankruptcy Court approval to settle a long-running dispute with Boeing and a claim for $32 million (€27.9m), nearly half of the multinational’s asserted claims in Ligado’s bankruptcy.
AST SpaceMobile has an agreement in place with Ligado for L-band services over the US. Ligado Networks has 40 MHz of spectrum licences in the nationwide block of 1500 MHz to 1700 MHz spectrum in the L-Band.
Ligado Networks is in settlement talks with the US Dept. of Justice over the bankrupt satellite company’s $39 billion lawsuit alleging that the Dept. of Defense and other US government agencies unlawfully seized its L-band spectrum without compensation.
The bankruptcy deal now under discussion would resolves Boeing’s $63.6 million claims against Ligado for certain performance-based payments at a “meaningful discount”, avoiding a potentially costly and complex trial. The settlement motion was filed July 2nd in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Ligado filed Chapter 11 in January 2025 after it missed payments to business partner Inmarsat Global (now owned by Viasat of California) and had defaulted on more than $4 billion in debt that matured in November 2023.
“The bankruptcy court approved Ligado’s reorganisation plan last September, which the company said would equitize over $8.5 billion of debt and provide new capital to fund ongoing business operations,” said the Bloomberg Law news report.
The company agreed to pay Inmarsat $568 million to resolve a contract dispute, though it requested temporary relief from making the payment earlier this year, saying the provider breached an agreement. The request was approved after a March 30th Court hearing.
The dispute with Boeing stems from a satellite manufacturing contract under which Boeing built two mobile communications services satellites for Ligado.
An anomaly event damaged the SkyTerra-1 satellite’s reflector in April 2023, degrading its performance. A joint report concluded that the cause was a loss of load in the reflector cord assembly, but the cause of the loss of load was “undeterminable”.
“The interpretation of highly technical performance thresholds under a complex satellite manufacturing contract would necessarily involve extensive expert testimony regarding satellite engineering and antenna performance,” Ligado said.
Boeing claimed it was owed over $63.6 million in incentive payments, damages earnbacks, and interest, while Ligado refused payments because SkyTerra-1 had failed to meet the required performance thresholds since the event.
After Ligado filed for bankruptcy, Boeing moved the court to force Ligado to choose whether to keep or reject the satellite contract, which triggered a fight over cure amounts allegedly owed.
Other posts by :
- Arianespace to offer ‘rideshare’ launches
- Space industry warns Europe must do more
- Banks increase SpaceX forecasts
- Orbex bankruptcy details released
- South Korea confirms LEO plan
- Bank: “SpaceX should lobby for an MVNO”
- New Glenn amends pre-launch methods
- Iridium deal a “watershed” moment for Rocket Lab