Ligado Networks, the 5G/satellite operator that emerged from the ashes of LightSquared, continues to battle to keep its dream of a national US-wide wholesale IoT network alive. Its latest move is to secure a powerful chip partner to make semiconductors to work with its unusual network – which will run 5G in L-band satellite spectrum. Ligado says a new alliance with Sony Semiconductor Israel – built around Sony’s acquisition of device chipmaker Altair – brings it an important step closer to commercial services for enterprises. Those services would combine satellite and terrestrial communications in the same spectrum, and could also operate on satellite alone. Ligado, and LightSquare before it, have spent years fighting against claims from the GPS community…