PARIS — Mobile satellite services operator Inmarsat said it had received a scheduled payment from bankrupt satellite-terrestrial network operator LIghtSquared less than 72 hours before a deadline that would have ended the two companies’ cooperation.
London-based Inmarsat said LightSquared, which has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy for more than two years, made two payments totaling $9.1 million on Aug. 29.
The payment — part of a series of cash outlays from LightSquared in return for Inmarsat’s rearranging its use of L-band spectrum in the United States — had been due July 1. Inmarsat issued a notice of default to LightSquared on July 2 and gave the company 60 days’ notice.
Inmarsat officials have said that, insofar as LightSquared remains an acquisition target by one or more companies, LightSquared backers have little choice but to continue to make the Inmarsat payments or accept the loss of their use of the L-band spectrum.
LightSquared had planned a multibillion-dollar network of ground stations and satellites to provide broadband access in the United States before running into U.S. government opposition owing to frequency interference with U.S. GPS positioning, navigation and timing services.
