Ligado Networks announced nearly $3.85 billion in new capital for supporting its upcoming 5G launch. The funding was led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., and included both existing and new investors.
Since its bipartisan, unanimous approval from the FCC in April 2020, Ligado has made important strides to realize the full potential of its spectrum and progress toward bringing next-generation services to market. In June 2020, Ligado’s submissions into 3GPP – the industry forum that adopts technical specifications for terrestrial spectrum – were approved and, importantly, enjoyed the support of global vendors such as Nokia, Intel, Samsung, and Sequans. This capital raise will further strengthen the company’s commercial collaboration with chipset designers, device manufacturers, and network infrastructure providers.
“Today is a great day, and now the fun begins. We’ve secured our license, we’ve raised the necessary capital, and we’re in a great position to work with the industry to get this spectrum deployed for 5G to support critical industries across the U.S.,” said Doug Smith, Ligado President and CEO.
“This new round of funding from existing and new investors validates our 5G plans to deploy this spectrum,” said Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman of Ligado’s Board of Directors. “We look forward to making continued progress to build the commercial ecosystem and fully execute on our vision for this spectrum as authorized by the FCC.”
- On May 22, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), acting on behalf of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Transportation (DoT), petitioned the FCC to reconsider, clarify or amend its recent decision regarding Ligado. Specifically, NTIA is requesting the FCC to rescind the approval of the mobile satellite service (MSS) license modification applications conditionally granted to Ligado, stating that these will cause irreparable harms to federal government users of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Separately, NTIA is seeking a stay in the proceedings to prevent Ligado from deploying its network until this petition is addressed and harmful interference concerns are resolved.
In response, Ligado stated “This rehash of arguments put before the FCC over two years ago contains no new information or technical data to support its request that the FCC reconsider its recent unanimous, bipartisan decision. The entire petition is premised on the tired 1 dB argument, which is just another way of the DoD saying, “we want this spectrum for our own use.” The FCC carefully analyzed and dismantled that argument in its 74-page Order, and we are confident that it will affirm its decision upon review.”
FCC approves Ligado for low-power L-band terrestrial network
The FCC voted unanimously to approve with conditions Ligado’s application to deploy a low-power terrestrial nationwide network in the L-Band that will primarily support 5G and Internet of Things services.
“I thank my colleagues for coming together on a bipartisan basis to support Ligado’s application,” said Chairman Pai. “The vote at the Commission reflects the broad, bipartisan support that this order has received, from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr on the one hand to Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Congresswoman Doris Matsui of California on the other. This vote is another step forward for American leadership in 5G and advanced wireless services.”
Among the conditions that Ligado must abide by:
- Ligado must provide a significant (23 megahertz) guard-band using its own licensed spectrum to separate its terrestrial base station transmissions from neighboring operations in the Radionavigation-Satellite Service allocation.
- Ligado is required to limit the power levels of its base stations to 9.8 dBW, a reduction of 99.3% from the power levels proposed in Ligado’s 2015 application.
- Ligado must protect adjacent band incumbents by reporting its base station locations and technical operating parameters to potentially affected government and industry stakeholders prior to commencing operations, continuously monitoring the transmit power of its base station sites, and complying with procedures and actions for responding to credible reports of interference, including rapid shutdown of operations where warranted.
- Ligado Networks is a privately-backed company based in Reston, Virginia, with investors including Centerbridge Partners, Fortress Investment Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co. From the big hitting industry execs on the leadership team it is clear the company is serious. Ivan Seidenberg, a former chairman of Verizon Communications, serves as chairman. Also on the board of directors is Timothy Donahue, former executive chairman of Sprint Nextel and former president and CEO of Nextel Communications, and Reed Hundt, the former Federal Communications Commission. Doug Smith serves as Ligado’s president and CEO; he is known for his work in engineering and launching nationwide networks for GTE, Nextel, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire.
