NEW YORK-Comsat Corp. has filed a breach of contract lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Maryland against IDB Mobile Communications Inc. seeking to collect at least $5 million for satellite services it said it provided to IDB in 1997.
“IDB freely entered into a contract with Comsat for satellite services, and [it] must pay [its] outstanding obligations,” said Warren Y. Zeger, vice president and general counsel of Comsat, Bethesda, Md.
“IDB praised the terms of this contract to Federal Communications Commission officials when it was signed, and Comsat has provided full service every day.”
Comsat is a U.S. signatory to Inmarsat satellite services.
The FCC granted a request by IDB, also based in Bethesda, to become a second U.S. provider of Inmarsat services, said Marc Hausman, a spokesman for Stratos Mobile Networks, IDB’s parent company.
However, only Inmarsat signatories like Comsat are permitted to provide the space segment of Inmarsat services, Hausman said.
Stratos has land-earth stations in California and New York, and it had been purchasing the space segment of Inmarsat A services from Comsat until the fall of 1997, explained Stratos’ attorney, Alfred Mamlet, of Steptoe & Johnson L.L.P., Washington, D.C.
“Comsat’s prices are uncompetitive, so IDB went shopping for a cheaper supplier,” he said.
The identity of the alternative provider, “is a commercial secret covered by a confidentiality agreement,” Mamlet said.
Mamlet said his client’s position is that its choice of a different Inmarsat space segment provider doesn’t violate the terms of any contract or federal law.
“We have paid for every Comsat service we have used and for which we have been invoiced,” said Derrick Rowe, chief executive officer of Stratos Mobile Networks, Ottawa.
Comsat’s lawsuit pertains to services IDB used and didn’t pay for, said Dave Groobert, director of corporate affairs for Comsat. IDB Mobile Communications’ agreement with Comsat calls for it to “report its traffic to us on an ongoing basis and pay for the services used on an ongoing basis,” he said.
Stratos Mobile Networks and IDB are part of Stratos Global Corp., a publicly traded Canadian company.
In 1996 and 1997, another subsidiary, Stratos Wireless, purchased IDB Mobile ownership interests totaling 50 percent from Teleglobe Inc. and WorldCom Inc.
Stratos conducts most of its operations in the United States through another corporate unit, called Stratos Mobile USA, which has taken over most of the operations from IDB Mobile.
