Ligado Lawsuit: Inmarsat's L-Band Inaction a Contractual Breach
Despite paying Inmarsat more than $1.7 billion under the terms of an L-band coordination agreement, Inmarsat never resolved terminal interference issues that impeded Ligado's use of the band, Ligado said in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract and fraudulent inducement. Ligado filed the lawsuit under seal last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware in conjunction with its Chapter 11 filing with the court (see 2501060026).
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In an unsealed version provided to us, Ligado said that under terms of the companies' 2010 coordination agreement, Inmarsat was supposed to address interference that was expected to arise between Inmarsat terminals operating on Inmarsat's system and Ligado's planned ancillary terrestrial component operations so Ligado could operate near airports and waterways. Ligado said that as it was seeking a license modification from the FCC, Inmarsat customers repeatedly raised concerns that Ligado's ATC service would cause them interference. Ligado said it approached Inmarsat for "regulatory support for which it bargained and paid," but Inmarsat never developed a plan to address terminal interference issues and never took more than "perfunctory steps" to rebut interference assertions. That inaction helped delay Ligado's medication application approval, and the 2020 approval included significant power level limits near exclusion zones around airports and navigable waterways, reducing the value of its L-band spectrum, Ligado said. "Nonetheless, [Inmarsat] continued to insist on payments for spectrum that Inmarsat knew Ligado would likely be unable to use," Ligado said. Inmarsat "has done very little work and seriously underdelivered on its obligations, while its conduct has caused Ligado to lose a material percentage of the fair market value of the spectrum for which it contracted and paid," Ligado said.
Ligado is asking for unspecified damages, for a court order directing Inmarsat to complete its terminal resilience obligations within 120 days, including replacement or medication of terminals as needed, and for restitution for Ligado payments.
Viasat emailed Friday that Ligado's suit "has absolutely no legal merit and is replete with unfounded allegations of fact." It added, "We will vigorously defend against this transparent tactic filed in connection with Ligado’s bankruptcy filing."