Ligado Sues U.S. Seeking $39 Billion in Spectrum Fight
Debt-laden satellite company alleges Pentagon improperly denied its use of spectrum for 5G networks
Long-struggling satellite company Ligado Networks sued the U.S. over spectrum rights it has been unable to use, alleging that the Defense Department and Commerce Department blocked its business plans through a “highly orchestrated public disinformation campaign.”
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, seeks to recover as much as $39 billion as compensation for property that Ligado says was wrongly denied. The complaint comes as the company stares down about $4 billion of November bond payments.
The company has also been in talks with creditors. Ligado, previously known as LightSquared, emerged from bankruptcy in 2015 and has flirted with financial disaster over the years as it worked to secure its spectrum rights.
Ligado alleged Thursday that the Pentagon and Commerce Department used a false pretext to deny its use of wireless spectrum licenses it would otherwise be allowed to commercialize.
A Pentagon spokesperson said the department doesn’t comment on litigation. A Commerce Department spokesman declined to comment.
Federal officials at both departments have for years said that Ligado’s planned fifth-generation wireless signals could interfere with the use of the Global Positioning System.
Ligado’s lawsuit said that the Pentagon instead claimed all of Ligado’s spectrum in a frequency range known as the L-band for undisclosed activities other than GPS without telling other regulators or members of Congress.
The Pentagon’s weapons and communications programs, many of them classified, often use radio frequencies that are unavailable for civilian use.
“High ranking U.S. government officials have acted deliberately to deprive an American company of its rightfully licensed property,” Ligado Chairman Ivan Seidenberg said in a statement. “The government must be held accountable for these actions.”