Iridium Opposed to Ligado-AST SpaceMobile Deal
The incumbent fears interference from planned direct-to-cell service.
WASHINGTON, March 3, 2026 – Iridium is asking federal regulators not to allow a deal that would see AST SpaceMobile offer direct-to-cell service on Ligado’s satellite spectrum.
Iridium, which uses spectrum in the same band, says the applicants hadn’t properly coordinated with incumbents to prevent interference, and that the deal would ultimately amount to a transfer of license without the proper process.
Ligado asked the Federal Communications Commission last year to let AST SpaceMobile provide mobile-satellite service on Ligado’s L-band spectrum. Ligado pitched the arrangement as something of an alternative to SpaceX, which dominates the fixed satellite broadband market and is planning a push into offering mobile service as well.
Iridium said in a Monday petition to deny that the low-Earth orbit system proposed by AST could cause interference with both its own LEO operations in the band and other geostationary systems.
Fellow L-band incumbent Inmarsat is also apparently opposed to the deal, but for now it can’t tell the FCC that. In exchange for Inmarsat’s support of the Ligado-AST application, AST agreed to pay $535 million to Inmarsat, which would cover fees Inmarsat was owed by Ligado under their coordination agreement.
AST has already paid $420 million of that, with the rest set to be paid by the end of this month. Inmarsat had sued in December, arguing AST had breached that agreement by failing to do sufficient coordination work under their agreement, and that Inmarsat could thus oppose the deal.
AST successfully fought the suit, arguing it wasn’t required by the agreement to coordinate to the extent Inmarsat thought was necessary. Inmarsat's effort was struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Monday, and the company submitted a letter to the FCC the same day to “convey affirmative support” for the deal.
Viasat, Inmarsat’s parent company, had last week submitted a petition to deny the deal which laid out similar allegations of a lack of sufficient coordination to prevent interference. The company later retracted it on Monday.
“The Commission must resolve this issue before it acts on the Application, as a failure to coordinate could lead to harmful interference between the new constellation and Inmarsat that would damage both services,” Iridium wrote. “It can do so by requiring Ligado and Inmarsat to provide specific information, including documents and correspondence between the parties, on what steps, if any, were taken to coordinate the new constellation.”
In a court filing last month Ligado argued the proposed LEO system was as coordinated as it had to be under the deal Inmarsat had already agreed to. The parties had difficulty reaching a deal and entered mediation, ultimately agreeing that an existing cooperation agreement covered the proposed LEO system. They apparently had different ideas about how that would work in practice.
The AST deal is part of Ligado’s bankruptcy proceedings, and the company told judges if there were too much opposition at the FCC, “the Application may be denied or enmired in a lengthy FCC process. Without FCC approval, the AST Transaction and Ligado’s ability to exit bankruptcy fall into doubt.”
AST SpaceMobile has agreements with AT&T and Verizon to provide direct-to-cell satellite service to their customers. Both carriers plan to launch service with AST sometime this year. The satellite company has fallen behind schedule on its launch plans, saying on its earnings call Monday it was shooting for 45 satellites in orbit by the end of 2026.
SpaceX’s direct-to-cell service with T-Mobile is already online, and the company is scooping up spectrum as part of a plan for a massive new constellation of satellites for the purpose of improving its mobile offerings.
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