AST/Ligado L-Band Deal Could Sew Up One of Few D2D-Desirable Bands
AST SpaceMobile's L-band spectrum access agreement with Ligado comes as the booming interest in direct-to-device service is running into limited spectrum availability, spectrum consultants and analysts tell us. Some see a similar deal with a satellite operator getting access to EchoStar's 2 GHz band spectrum for D2D as possible. The federal bankruptcy court overseeing Ligado's Chapter 11 plan signed off last week on the financial breakup terms of the Ligado/AST deal (see 2501270026). Ligado has said the AST deal is key to it emerging from bankruptcy (see 2501060026).
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Ligado's L-band spectrum is especially well-sited for AST's D2D plans because it's close to bands that smartphones use today and is expected to be integrated into future smartphones, said Lluc Palerm, an analyst with Analysys Mason's Northern Sky Research. Using a wireless carrier's terrestrial spectrum in space comes with particular regulatory approval and interference mitigation challenges, Palerm added. Satellite spectrum like Ligado's involves regulatory approvals and lacks the same interference mitigation needs, he said.
Spectrum access is a major challenge for D2D, with terrestrial bands already crowded, spectrum and satellite consultant Tim Farrar told us. It's also hard for satellite operators to gain access to wide blocks of mobile carriers' terrestrial spectrum, he said. Commercial arrangements providing access to mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum thus become an attractive option as they provide globally harmonized spectrum, he said.
Three MSS bands make sense for D2D -- the L band, 2 GHz band and big low earth orbit band -- said Summit Ridge Group's Armand Musey. The Big LEO band is largely taken up by Globalstar and Iridium, EchoStar dominates the 2 GHz band, and Ligado has a lot of L band, he said. Musey and Farrar co-wrote a white paper on D2D spectrum challenges (see 2501270054).
AST and supplemental coverage from space rival Lynk have focused on spectrum bands below 1 GHz for their satellites, and it's unclear that the L-band spectrum would be easily usable by AST without launching satellites, Farrar said. AST satellites are largely tuned to 750 MHz, plus or minus 200, and the farther you move from that center frequency, the less efficient the antenna is, he said.
Under the terms of the Ligado/AST collaboration, AST gets L-band MSS usage rights, as well as the right to use Ligado satellites and ground station assets, including "substantially all" of the SkyTerra-1 satellite capacity. Ligado will also work with AST on design and specifications of AST's non-geostationary orbit satellite system using the L band, including for regulatory applications to the FCC and Canada's Innovation Science and Economic Development.
In exchange, Ligado receives $350 million worth of AST stock or cash and $200 million in convertible notes or cash. AST is also to make an annual usage rights payment of $80 million to Ligado.
Musey said one particular stumbling block to the Ligado/AST arrangement comes from NTIA concerns about interference to the GPS L1 signal from L-band use by mobile devices (see 2412260003). Another issue is Ligado's legal fight with Viasat's Inmarsat over L-band coordination (see 2501100001), Farrar said. Without access to Ligado spectrum, Viasat's D2D plans could be jeopardized, Farrar said.
One challenge with Ligado's L-band spectrum is that it's not backward compatible -- smartphones today can't communicate in those spectrum bands, so it will only be usable for future generations of smartphones, Palerm said.
Inmarsat's objection last week to Ligado's proposed debtor-in-possession financing plan to keep it afloat during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see 2501290075) "is a disingenuous and destructive tactic by a lone creditor and litigation adversary" to derail the restructuring, Ligado told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Monday (docket 1:2025bk10006). It said that since the AST arrangement ensures Ligado can make its payments regarding L-band coordination to Inmarsat going forward, the Inmarsat objection "can only be attributed to other motives that have nothing to do with Inmarsat’s status as a potential unsecured creditor."
A big question is what happens next to the 2 GHz MSS band holdings of EchoStar. EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen is interested in exploiting the company's spectrum assets and has talked about D2D possibilities, Farrar said. Commercial agreements with another satellite operator, involving EchoStar 2 GHz holdings in a D2D service, are conceivable, he added.
Meanwhile, the U.S. wants Ligado's lawsuit before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which accuses the government of interfering with its licensed use of the L band, put on hold. In its motion for a stay (docket 23-1797), the U.S. said an appeal partially granting and partially rejecting a U.S. motion to dismiss (see 2411180023) to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit could avoid what likely will be years of extensive litigation.
"Interlocutory appeal on any of the ... disputed conclusions of law, however, may result in the end of the litigation, making discovery unnecessary altogether," the U.S. said. In an opposition last month, Ligado said the move for interlocutory appeal "is merely the latest step" in a "systematic campaign" by DOD and Commerce to prevent Ligado's use of the spectrum to provide 5G terrestrial wireless service. Ligado said that the agencies' obstruction forced it into bankruptcy, and they now seek additional delay just as discovery was to start.