RKLB Stock Suffers Worst Week Ever: AST SpaceMobile Partner Challenges Iridium Deal — Claims Rival Uses FCC To Block Competitors

• AST SpaceMobile partner Ligado urged the FCC to scrutinize Rocket Lab’s proposed $8 billion Iridium acquisition.
• Ligado cited SpaceX’s allegation that Iridium filed more than 50 petitions to deny over eight months.
• Neutron’s debut has slipped into 2027, while the Iridium acquisition remains targeted for a mid-2027 close.

Shares of Rocket Lab (RKLB) plunged over 25% last week as another delay to its Neutron rocket battered the stock, while AST SpaceMobile’s spectrum partner Ligado Networks challenged the competitive benefits of its proposed $8 billion acquisition of Iridium Communications.

RKLB stock closed Friday at $50.84, down nearly 8% for the session. The decline extended its losing streak to eight sessions, wiping out 38% of its value since its Oct.7 close. The selloff deepened after Rocket Lab pushed Neutron’s debut into 2027. 

Ligado Takes Aim At Iridium Deal

In a recent letter to the FCC, Ligado accused Iridium of using regulatory proceedings to delay competing satellite services, including Ligado’s proposed SkyTerra Next offering with AST SpaceMobile.Iridium has long used the FCC’s procedures as an anticompetitive weapon,” Ligado’s lawyers said.

“While Rocket Lab and Iridium tout MSS competition as the core public interest benefit of the acquisition, Iridium’s own conduct suggests its modus operandi at the FCC for decades has been to suppress rather than promote competition,” Ligado said.

Ligado asked the FCC to scrutinize the transaction’s incentives and public-interest benefits, particularly if Iridium does not withdraw filings that Ligado characterizes as attempts to cause delay.

AST SpaceMobile Plans Fuel Spectrum Fight

Ligado’s commercial interest runs directly through SkyTerra Next, a proposed mobile satellite service using AST SpaceMobile’s low-Earth-orbit constellation to support direct-to-device connectivity.

Ligado alleges that Iridium has opposed the service to protect its existing business. It argues that SkyTerra Next would compete with Iridium without creating an interference risk. The letter also points to Iridium’s previous interest in accessing Ligado’s spectrum. According to Ligado, the FCC rejected the move, after which Iridium continued pursuing objections concerning potential interference. Ligado said that the acquisition could reinforce those incentives by increasing the importance of protecting the strategic value of Iridium’s L-band spectrum.

“Accordingly, we urge the Commission to carefully scrutinize the transaction to ensure that the parties’ intent and incentives align with the public interest,” its lawyers said.

SpaceX’s Objections Enter Deal Fight

Ligado also drew on SpaceX’s earlier criticism of Iridium, citing an August filing accusing the operator of repeatedly attempting to impede competitors. “Iridium exploits Commission procedure to deny or delay its competitors from providing better service to millions of American consumers, businesses, and first responders,” SpaceX said in the filing quoted by Ligado.

According to Ligado’s letter, SpaceX documented more than 50 petitions to deny filed by Iridium over an eight-month period. Ligado argued that requiring applicants and FCC staff to address such objections consumes resources and delays innovation. Its main contention is that the commission should include Iridium’s regulatory conduct in its assessment of the proposed transfer of its licenses to Rocket Lab.

Neutron Delay Deepens RKLB’s Slide

The regulatory dispute comes as investors reassess the timetable for Rocket Lab’s most important launch-development program. Rocket Lab announced last week that Neutron’s inaugural flight is now expected in 2027, moving beyond its previous fourth-quarter 2026 target. The reusable medium-lift rocket is key to its plans to serve larger commercial constellations and national-security missions.

The latest setback involves manufacturing defects in a carbon-composite first-stage propellant tank component. 

Iridium Deal Awaits Remaining Approvals

Announced in June, the Iridium acquisition would combine Rocket Lab’s launch and spacecraft-manufacturing operations with an established global communications network, L-band spectrum and more than 2.55 million active subscribers.

The companies say that the deal would support next-generation communications, direct-to-device connectivity, positioning and navigation services, and satellite-connected devices. The transaction carried an enterprise value of $8 billion at announcement.

Rocket Lab said in September that it had fully financed the acquisition, including through $1.94 billion in gross proceeds from a share sale and arrangements allowing Iridium’s existing term loan to remain in place. Iridium shareholders approved the deal in September. Completion is now targeted for mid-2027.

The FCC’s timetable calls for responses and oppositions by Oct.30, followed by replies on Nov.9, providing the next opportunity for the applicants to address the competitive concerns raised in the proceeding.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About RKLB?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for RKLB jumped to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ levels a week ago amid ‘high’ message volume.

One user said, “We all knew the launch was going to be pushed out, we all knew the stock would tank when the news came out.  However, this has now created a setup for the mother of all short squeezes when the actual launch date is announced.”

Another user said, “My logic for holding is that the company has wisely diversified its revenue stream and what just happened with Neuron is really an R&D cost which isn't capped.”

RKLB stock has declined 27% year-to-date.

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