TAMPA, Fla. — The U.S. government has asked the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to dismiss its $40 billion lawsuit against Ligado Networks after its plans fell through.
Ligado filed a lawsuit in October against the U.S. and a group of federal agencies, accusing it of obstructing efforts to ground allocated L-band satellite frequencies so the Pentagon could use the frequencies instead. .
The Federal Communications Commission granted Ligado permission in 2020 to use this frequency to deploy a 5G network. However, the plan was canceled two years later after what the company said was a misinformation campaign over possible GPS interference.
In addition to the United States, Ligado is suing the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Commerce (DoC), and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
Government lawyers argued on January 25 that the court lacks jurisdiction over such claims arising from FCC licensing decisions because the Communications Act mandates an exclusive administrative and judicial review framework. filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Even if the U.S. Court of Federal Claims had jurisdiction, the lawyers said Ligado could not claim these property rights as an intangible license.
“In fact, no court has ever held that an FCC license is property for expropriation,” he wrote in a Jan. 25 motion to dismiss the case. “And the court with primary jurisdiction over FCC license issues (the D.C. Circuit) has held that: FCC licenses are not property under the acquisition clause.”
So-called take-claims, when the government seizes private property for public use, also require that the government action in question be authorized and lawful, and although the motion continues, Ligado Alleges the FCC license was unlawfully blocked.
spectrum accusation
In the Oct. 12 lawsuit, Ligado alleged that the Department of Defense was using L-band frequencies without providing compensation.
The lawsuit cites testimony from senior government officials citing the Department of Defense’s use of Ligado’s spectrum, including a letter sent in 2022 to the heads of the Pentagon, Pentagon, and NTIA.
Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a letter that the Pentagon’s concerns about Ligado’s 5G plans could interfere with federal systems. He said he knew. The use of spectrum in these federal systems was not disclosed to the FCC until the spectrum regulator approved Ligado’s terrestrial network proposal in 2020.
Ligado said details about the Pentagon’s use of the spectrum have not been made public, but multiple government officials have told the company that the Pentagon needs all spectrum authorized for wireless terrestrial 5G services. He said that he had told him.
“These officials also informed Ligado that the Department of Defense needed this spectrum exclusively and permanently,” the company said in its October lawsuit.
The Jan. 26 motion to dismiss said Ligado did not allege “plausible facts to support the purely speculative claim that the government occupies licensed spectrum.”
The motion also said Ligado did not identify any authorized government action that would prevent the use of the modified license.
The move comes after a Congressional-mandated study released in September 2022 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine warned that it could interfere with some GPS signals and Iridium’s space communications services. , Ligado put its terrestrial radio plans on hold.
Latest twist in long-running saga
Ligado said on January 26 that it continues to steadfastly support the original allegations and is working on a response to the government’s allegations.
“As stated in the company’s lawsuit, government officials intentionally deprived Ligado of legitimately licensed property, and the government cannot be held accountable,” a company spokesperson said in an email. No,” he said.
“This attack on an American company by the world’s most powerful institution violates the rule of law and contradicts the government’s long-standing support for deploying 5G technology as a national priority.”
Iridium, which also operates in the L-band, and other Ligado critics have repeatedly called on the FCC to rescind its 2020 approval, which included restrictions to prevent interference.
Ligado said in an Oct. 13 news release that the Department of Defense, DoC and NTIA previously helped develop the company’s plans to use satellite spectrum for its terrestrial network.
But Ligado said the Pentagon reversed course in 2018 and instead tried to shut down the network through a misinformation campaign under the guise of threats to GPS devices, with the Pentagon and NTIA following suit soon after. Stated.
