An out-of-state lender is attempting to have a crucial satellite license taken from Theia Group Inc., which could upend one of the city's most ambitious economic development efforts.
The Federal Communications Commission license allows Theia to operate 112 earth-imaging satellites. But New York City lender FCS Advisors, which is trying to recover more than $289 million in debt allegedly owed by the startup, contends that the court should allow Theia's FCC license to be sold to another business.
Theia Group planned to assemble and test satellites at a massive Albuquerque development called the Orion Center, and said it would create a minimum of 1,000 jobs and a mixed-use campus located near the Albuquerque International Sunport. Project outlines revealed millions of square feet of construction and building costs estimated in the billions of dollars, representing a level of investment seldom seen in local business — if ever.
Less than three dozen companies from across the world have received the type of FCC approval that Theia Group has, putting the startup in an exclusive group of space ventures. But without its license, the company may not be able to legally launch its satellites — and could have little need to build them.
A deadline looms
At the center of FCS's request for the transfer of the licenses is a launch deadline that imposes a financial penalty.
The FCC authorized Theia's proposed constellation in 2019, mandating that 56 of the company's satellites must be in the air and in operation by May 9, 2025. If the company misses that milestone, it will forfeit a bond posted by Theia Group as part of the approval process. In that scenario, Theia's bond payment could be worth about $5 million, according to an analysis of an FCC formula from Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.
In addition, the FCC could also modify Theia Group's authorization to reduce the overall number of satellites it could launch, capping it at the number of satellites in use at the time of the deadline. Theia Group initially disclosed plans to launch the constellation that was approved but later claimed in court that it tried to finance a separate "Internet-of-Space" satellite network earlier this year, although it is unknown if both were supposed to be built at the Orion Center.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has also granted Theia Group permission to operate a space-based remote sensing system, but that approval is more nebulous. When asked for a copy of the license or its terms, NOAA's Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs senior advisor Brooks Cressman wrote in an email "licenses are confidential to the company holding the license and cannot be released for that reason."
Altogether, Theia Group's federal approvals might be worth a lot of money. According to copies of loan agreements between Theia Group and Aithre Capital Partners LLC, the value of the frequencies Theia's Earth-imaging satellites are approved to operate in are estimated to be worth in excess of $2.4 billion.
The spectrum valuation took into consideration two different valuation reports, including one prepared by Joseph N. Pelton, the former dean of the International Space University in France, according to the loan document copies.
FCC spokesman Will Wiquist did not return a request for comment on satellite licenses.
The Orion Center remains in flux
Theia Group has a substantial amount of work to complete in the next couple of years if it is to meet the deadline set forth in the FCC license. The Orion Center project was supposed to break ground this year. Satellite launches were to begin in 2023.
And while the Albuquerque City Council unanimously approved a lease agreement for the Orion Center land in April, the deal is still awaiting finalization as neither party has executed the lease agreement five months later. In that time, Theia Group has been named in several lawsuits alleging unpaid debt on loans, rent and other commitments.
"We are reviewing relevant information relating to [Theia Group's] lawsuits that have recently been filed, and continue to evaluate any emerging issues," Sunport spokesman Jonathan Small wrote in a Sept. 30 statement provided to Albuquerque Business First. "The City will continue to proceed with appropriate due diligence."
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller's administration is not the first to attempt to reinvigorate the Aviation Center of Excellence, where the Albuquerque International Sunport's decommissioned north-south runway lies. Back in 2017, under former Mayor Richard Berry, the city unveiled an $8 million initiative to develop the area.
Two years later, Keller and the Sunport introduced incentives for construction projects there as Theia Group plotted its expansion into town.
