Iridium Communications Inc. (Iridium) operates as a commercial provider of communications services offering true global coverage, connecting people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. The company’s low-earth orbit (LEO), L-band network provides reliable, weather-resilient communications services to regions of the world where terrestrial wireless or wireline networks do not exist or are limited, including remote land areas, open ocean, airways, the polar regions, and reg...
Iridium Communications Inc. (Iridium) operates as a commercial provider of communications services offering true global coverage, connecting people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. The company’s low-earth orbit (LEO), L-band network provides reliable, weather-resilient communications services to regions of the world where terrestrial wireless or wireline networks do not exist or are limited, including remote land areas, open ocean, airways, the polar regions, and regions where the telecommunications infrastructure has been affected by political conflicts or natural disasters.
The company provides voice and data communications services to businesses, the U.S. and foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers via its satellite network, which has an architecture of 66 operational satellites with in-orbit spares and related ground infrastructure. The company utilizes an interlinked mesh architecture to route traffic across its satellite constellation using radio frequency crosslinks between satellites. This unique architecture minimizes the need for local ground facilities to support the constellation, which facilitates the global reach of the company’s services and allows it to offer services in countries and regions where it has no physical presence.
The Iridium constellation was completed in 2019, fully replacing the company’s first-generation system. In addition to supporting new products with higher data speeds, it also hosts the Aireon system, which provides a global air traffic surveillance service through a series of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, or ADS-B, receivers on its satellites. The company formed Aireon LLC (Aireon) in 2011, with subsequent investments from several air navigation service providers, or ANSPs, to develop and market this service. Aireon has contracted to provide surveillance and other services to ANSPs and other customers around the world. Aireon has also contracted to pay the company a fee to host the ADS-B receivers on its satellites, as well as data service fees for the delivery of the air traffic surveillance data over the Iridium system. In addition, the company has entered into an agreement with L3Harris Technologies, Inc., or L3Harris, the manufacturer of the Aireon hosted payload, pursuant to which L3Harris pays it fees to allocate the remaining hosted payload capacity to its customers and data service fees on behalf of these customers.
The company’s commercial business, which it views as its primary source of long-term growth, is diverse and serves markets, such as emergency services, maritime, aviation, government, utilities, oil and gas, mining, recreation, forestry, heavy equipment, construction, railways, and other transportation. Many of its end users view the company’s products and services as critical to their daily operations and integral to their communications and business infrastructure. For example, multinational corporations in various sectors use its services for business telephony, email and data transfer, including telematics and personal location tracking, and to provide mobile communications services for employees in areas inadequately served by other telecommunications networks. Commercial enterprises use the company’s services to track assets in remote areas and provide telematics information, such as location and engine diagnostics. Ship crews and passengers use its services for ship-to-shore calling, as well as to send and receive email and data files, and to receive electronic media, weather reports, emergency bulletins and electronic charts. Shipping operators use the company’s services to manage operations on board ships and to transmit data, such as course, speed, fuel, weather and other navigation service data, as well as emergency services, as one of only two networks approved to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) services. Aviation end users use its services for air-to-ground telephony and data communications for position reporting, flight following, emergency tracking, weather information, electronic flight bag updates, and airline operational communications. Recreational users rely on the company’s services as a safety and critical personal communications lifeline to remain in contact with friends and family, as well as emergency distress signals. The company has also seen growing adoption of its services to support autonomous systems, for which Iridium is used for command and control, image transmission and environmental data gathering via unmanned aerial, underwater and surface vehicles. Iridium Certus provides a platform for its partners to develop specialized broadband and midband (a term it uses to describe services between its legacy 2.4 Kbps narrowband and its128 Kbps and higher broadband offerings) applications on its network. In 2024, the company introduced additional Iridium Certus offerings that enable IoT applications to send more data, with greater security and natively delivered via cloud infrastructure. With broadband services provided for the maritime, land-mobile and aviation industries and a midband service designed for maximum mobility, Iridium Certus offers the flexibility to scale device speeds, sizes and power requirements both up and down based on the needs of the end-user.
In 2024, the company acquired Satelles, Inc., a provider of highly secure, satellite-based position, navigation and timing (PNT) services that complement and protect GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite System, or GNSS, reliant systems. Time synchronization and location data play an important role in the global economy, particularly for major industries supported by critical infrastructure, such as financial services, telecommunications, cyber-security, and transportation.
The company operates primarily under a multi-year, fixed-price contract with the U.S. government, which it refers to as its Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services, or EMSS, contract to provide specified satellite airtime services for an unlimited number of U.S. Department of Defense, or DoD, and other federal government subscribers.
The U.S. government owns and operates a dedicated gateway that is only compatible with its satellite network. The U.S. armed services, State Department, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, Customs and Border Protection, and other U.S. government agencies, as well as other nations’ governmental agencies, use the company’s voice and data services for a wide variety of applications. Its voice and data products are used for numerous primary and backup communications solutions, including logistical, administrative, morale and welfare, tactical, and emergency communications. In addition, the company’s products are installed in ground vehicles, ships, and rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft and are used for command-and-control and situational awareness purposes. Its satellite network provides increased network security to the U.S. government because traffic is routed across its satellite constellation before being brought down to earth through the dedicated, secure U.S. government gateway. The U.S. government has made, and continues to make, significant investments to upgrade its dedicated gateway, to purchase the company’s voice and data devices, and to invest directly and indirectly in research and development and implementation support for additional services on its network, such as Distributed Tactical Communications Services, or DTCS, and Iridium Certus.
The company also provides engineering and support services to the U.S. government under a contract awarded by the Space Development Agency in May 2022 to General Dynamics Mission Systems, with Iridium as a subcontractor, which it refers to as the SDA contract. Under this contract, General Dynamics Mission Systems and Iridium will build ground entry points and operations centers for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), as well as provide network operations and systems integration services for the SDA’s next tranche of proliferated low-earth orbit satellites.
The company sells its products and services to commercial end users through a wholesale distribution network, encompassing approximately 110 service providers, approximately 310 value-added resellers, or VARs, and approximately 85 value-added manufacturers, or VAMs, which create and sell technology that uses the Iridium network either directly to the end user or indirectly through other service providers, VARs or dealers. These distributors often integrate its products and services with other complementary hardware and software and have developed a broad suite of applications using its products and services to target specific lines of business. The company expects that demand for its services will increase as more applications are developed and deployed that utilize its technology.
Business and Growth Strategies
The key elements of the company’s strategy are to leverage its largely fixed-cost infrastructure to grow its service revenue; expand its target markets through the development of new products and services; accelerate the development of personal communications capabilities; continued growth in services provided to the U.S. government; continue to expand its distribution network; and continue to support Aireon in the execution of its business plan.
Distribution Channels
The company sells its products and services to customers through a wholesale distribution network of approximately 110 service providers, approximately 310 VARs and approximately 85 VAMs. These distributors sell its products and services to end users, either directly or indirectly through service providers, VARs or dealers. Of these distributors, approximately 56 sells primarily to the U.S. and international government customers. The company’s distributors often integrate its products and services with other complementary hardware and software and have developed individual solutions targeting specific lines of business. It also sells airtime services directly to the U.S. government, including the DoD, for resale to other government agencies. The U.S. government and international government agencies may purchase additional services, as well as its products and related applications through its network of distributors.
The company provides its distributors with support services, including assistance with coordinating end user sales and marketing, strategic planning and training, and second-tier customer support, as well as helping them market its products and services and respond to new business opportunities. The company has representatives covering three regions around the world to better manage its distributor relationships: the Americas, which includes North, South and Central America; Asia Pacific, which includes Australia and Asia; and Europe, which includes the Middle East, Africa, and Russia. It has also established a global service program to provide portside service for its maritime customers at major ports worldwide. In addition, the company maintains various online management tools that allow it to communicate efficiently with its distributors and allow them to manage their customers’ Iridium devices from anywhere in the world. The company is also able to benefit from the specialized expertise of its distributors, who continue to develop innovative and improved solutions and applications integrating its product and service offerings, providing it with an attractive platform to support its growth.
Commercial Markets
The company views its commercial business as its primary source of long-term growth. Service providers and VARs serve as its main distribution channel by purchasing its products and services and marketing them directly to their customers or indirectly through independent dealers. They are each responsible for customer billing, end user customer care, managing credit risk, and maintaining all customer account information. If its service providers or VARs provide its services through dealers, these dealers will often provide such services directly to the end user. Service providers typically purchase its most basic products and services, such as mobile voice services and related satellite handsets, and offer additional services, such as voicemail. Unlike service providers, the company’s VARs typically focus more on data applications and provide a broader array of value-added services specifically targeted to the niche markets they serve, such as IoT, maritime, aviation and government markets, where high-use customers with specialized needs are concentrated. These VARs integrate its handsets, transceivers, high-speed data devices and SBD modems with other hardware and software to create packaged solutions for end users. Examples of these applications include cockpit voice and data solutions for use by the aviation sector and voice, data and tracking applications for industrial customers, such as Caterpillar Inc., the DoD, and other U.S. and foreign government agencies. The company’s service providers include satellite service providers, such as Marlink AS, Applied Satellite Technology Limited and Network Innovations, as well as some of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, including Telstra Limited, KDDI Corporation and Singapore Telecommunications Limited, or Singtel. The company’s VARs include ARINC Incorporated, Beam Communications Pty Ltd., Garmin Services Inc., Garmin International Inc., Gogo Business Aviation LLC, Komatsu Ltd, Kore Telematics Inc., MetOcean Telematics Limited, NAL Research Corporation, and Zunibal S.A.
The company also sells its products to VAMs, who integrate its transceivers or chipsets into their proprietary hardware. These VAMs produce specialized end-user equipment, including integrated ship, vehicular and aviation communications systems, and global asset tracking devices, which they offer to end users in IoT, maritime, aviation and government markets. As with its service providers and VARs, VAMs sell their products either directly or through other distributors, including some of its service providers and VARs. The company’s VAMs include Intellian, Thales, Calamp Wireless Networks Corporation, Garmin Services Inc., Jacobs Technology, Inc., and Lars Thrane A/S.
In addition to VARs and VAMs, the company maintains relationships with approximately 90 value-added developers, or VADs. It typically provides technical information to these companies on its products and services, which they then use to develop software and hardware that complements its products and services in line with the specifications of its VARs and VAMs. These products include handset docking stations, airline tracking and flight management applications and crew e-mail applications for the maritime industry. The company’s VADs include AeroAntenna Technology, Inc., AnsuR Technologies AS, ASIQ Pty Ltd. Crib Gogh Ltd, Ocean and Coastal Environment Sensing Inc., Rockwell Collins Inc. and two10degrees Limited.
Government Markets
The company provides mission-critical mobile satellite products and services to all military branches of the DoD, as well as to other U.S. government departments and agencies. These users require voice and two-way data capability with global coverage, low latency, mobility and security and often operate in areas where no other terrestrial or wireless means of communications are available. The company’s 9575A handset is the only commercial, mobile handheld satellite phone capable of Type I encryption accredited by the U.S. National Security Agency for Top Secret voice communications. In addition, the U.S. government continues to make significant investments in a dedicated gateway that provides operational security and allows users of encrypted Iridium handsets to communicate securely with other U.S. government communications equipment. These investments include upgrading the gateway to take advantage of the enhanced capabilities of its network, including Iridium Certus and other enhanced services. This U.S. government gateway is only compatible with its satellite network.
The company provides airtime and airtime support to U.S. government and other authorized customers pursuant to its seven-year EMSS contract managed by the U.S. Space Force, which it entered into in 2019. Under the terms of this agreement, authorized customers utilize the company’s airtime services through the U.S. government’s dedicated gateway. These services include unlimited global standard and secure voice, broadcast, netted, or DTCS, and select other services for an unlimited number of the U.S. government subscribers.
The company also provides maintenance services for the U.S. government gateway pursuant to its Gateway Maintenance and Support Services, or GMSS, contract managed by the U.S. Space Force. Force, which replaced its previous Gateway Maintenance and Support Services, or GMSS, contract.
In September 2019, the company was also awarded a five-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity gateway evolution contract managed by the U.S. Space Force to enable ongoing innovation and enhancements for the U.S. government gateway, which was subsequently extended through March 2025. The company expects to renew this agreement prior to its expiration in March 2025.
The company’s reported U.S. government revenue includes airtime revenue derived from the EMSS contract and services provided through the GMSS and ECS3 contracts, the gateway evolution contract, and other engineering and support contracts with the U.S. government, primarily the SDA contract.
Lines of Business
The specialized needs of the company’s global customers span many markets. The company’s system is able to offer its customers cost-effective communications solutions with true global coverage in areas unserved or underserved by existing telecommunications infrastructure.
The company’s principal vertical lines of business include land mobile, maritime, aviation, IoT, hosted payloads and other data services, which includes PNT, and U.S. government. The company reports commercial voice and data service, IoT data service, commercial broadband, hosted payload and other data service, and government service revenue separately. Land mobile and aviation are the principal contributors to the revenue the company reports as commercial voice and data, while maritime is primarily reported in commercial broadband revenue.
Commercial Voice and Data and Commercial Broadband
The company offers commercial voice and data and commercial broadband services primarily in the land mobile, maritime, and aviation sectors. The company separately reports commercial Iridium Certus broadband revenue with Iridium OpenPort service revenue as commercial broadband revenue. Because there is considerable overlap in these services, the company has combined its discussion of these revenue lines in this report, noting within the discussion where its broadband services contribute, particularly in maritime.
Land Mobile
The company is the leading provider of mobile satellite communications services to the land mobile sector, providing handset services to areas not served or inconsistently served by existing terrestrial communications networks. Mining, forestry, construction, oil and gas, utilities, heavy industry and transport companies, as well as the military, public safety and disaster relief agencies are significant users of its land mobile services. For the sale of Iridium GO! and Iridium PTT services also contribute to the land mobile sector.
The company’s land mobile end users utilize its satellite communications services for:
Voice and data: Multinational corporations in various sectors use the company’s services for business telephony, email and data transfer services, location-based services, and broadband for employees in areas inadequately served by terrestrial networks. Oil and gas and mining companies, for example, provide their personnel with its equipment solutions while surveying new drilling and mining opportunities and while conducting routine operations in remote areas that are not served by terrestrial wireless communications networks. In addition, a number of recreational, scientific and other outdoor users rely on its mobile handheld satellite phones and services for use when beyond terrestrial wireless coverage. Iridium PTT offers non-governmental organizations (NGOs), military, first responder, oil and gas, civil government and other users the ability to hold group calls using the Iridium Extreme PTT handset or other devices developed by its VAMs and VARs using the Iridium 9523 PTT core transceiver. The Thales MissionLINK terminal, the first Iridium Certus broadband offering in the land mobile area, allows rapid deployment and on-the-move communications, location tracking, and automatic WAN failover for added reliability.
Mobile and remote office connectivity: A variety of enterprises use the company’s services to make and receive voice calls and to establish data, email, internet and corporate network connections.
Public safety and disaster relief: Relief agencies, such as FEMA, and other agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, use its products and services in their emergency response plans, particularly in the aftermath of natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 and the California and Maui wildfires in 2023. These agencies generate significant demand for both its voice and data products, especially in advance of the hurricane season in North America. Further, many enterprises and governments include mobile satellite services, such as part of their PACE (Primary/Alternate/Contingency/Emergency) plan, to maintain communications continuity in case of terrestrial communication network outages.
Public telephone infrastructure: Telecommunications service providers use the company’s services to satisfy regulatory mandates and government expectations regarding the availability of communications services for rural populations not served by terrestrial infrastructure. Telstra Corporation, for example, uses its services to provide communications services in some of Australia’s most remote locations.
Maritime
The company serves the commercial maritime market with a variety of products, including broadband terminals, embedded devices and handsets. This market includes merchant shipping, fishing, leisure and research vessels, and specialized watercraft. Since it introduced Iridium Certus broadband in January 2019, Iridium Certus services have accounted for an increasing portion of its revenue from this market, and it expects that trend to continue, although it still supports its legacy broadband offering, Iridium OpenPort service. The company’s products and services targeting the maritime market typically have high average revenue per subscriber. Once one of its maritime systems is installed on a vessel, it often generates a multi-year recurring revenue stream from the customer.
Iridium Certus, which offers data speeds of up to 704 Kbps, presents a compelling communication solution for L-band users in the maritime market. Iridium Certus has been increasingly installed on oceangoing vessels as a companion to broadband services offered by geostationary orbit (VSAT connections) and non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) providers and it has seen lower usage levels on some vessels where the company had previously been used as the primary communications service. The company expects additional offerings, such as Iridium Certus GMDSS services, to continue to increase the addressable market for its maritime services.
Maritime end users utilize the company’s satellite communications services for the following:
Business critical data applications: Ship operators use the company’s services to exchange email and data files and to receive other information, such as meteorological reports, emergency bulletins, cargo and voyage data and electronic chart updates. In conjunction with its distributors, the company also offers services that permit service providers and VARs to offer complete integrated solutions for prepaid calling, email and IP-based data communications. For example, one of its distribution partners, Marlink Inc., has been integrating Iridium Certus with its miniature Very Small Aperture Terminal, or mini-VSATSM, broadband service to provide companion connectivity when the mini-VSAT terminal is out of its coverage area or non-operational.
Voice services: Maritime global voice services are used for both vessel operations and communications for crew welfare. Merchant shipping companies use phone cards for crew use at preferential around-the-clock flat rates.
Vessel management and asset tracking: Shipping operators use the company’s services to manage operations on ships and to transmit data, such as course, speed and fuel stock. Its services are commonly integrated with GPS to provide a real-time position reporting capability. Many fishing vessels are required by law to carry terminals using approved mobile satellite services for tracking purposes, as well as to monitor catches and to ensure compliance with geographic fishing restrictions. European Union (EU) regulations, for example, require EU-registered fishing vessels of over 15 meters to carry terminals for the purpose of positional reporting of those vessels. Furthermore, new environmental regulations in some jurisdictions are expected to require monitoring of merchant vessels in territorial waters, which would provide an additional growth opportunity for the company.
Safety and Security applications: Ships in distress, including as a result of potential piracy, hijack or terrorist activity, rely on mobile satellite voice and data services. The Ship Security and Alert Systems, or SSAS, and Long Range Identification Tracking, or LRIT, regulations were adopted by the International Maritime Organization, or IMO, to enhance maritime security in response to the threat from terrorism and piracy. Most deep-sea passenger and cargo ships must be fitted with a device that can send an alert message containing the ship’s ID and position whenever the ship is under threat or has been compromised. In addition, the IMO and a NATO advisory group have recommended the installation of a safe room or citadel equipped with a standalone secure communication link the crew can use from inside the room to communicate with rescuing forces. The company’s distribution partners have developed several product solutions using its network to meet these requirements for merchant and fishing vessels.
In addition, the company has been recognized by the IMO as one of only two providers for the GMDSS. The GMDSS is a maritime service built to alert a maritime rescue coordination center of each vessel’s situation and position, information that can then be used to coordinate search and rescue efforts among ships in the area. As part of the GMDSS service, navigational and meteorological information is distributed to vessels. The IMO requires all vessels flagged by signatories to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, over 300 gross tons and certain passenger vessels, irrespective of size, that travel in international waters to carry distress and safety terminals that provide GMDSS services. GMDSS service using its network became available in 2020, and its partners offer maritime terminals that include GMDSS service capabilities to vessel operators. In 2024, the company announced GMDSS over Iridium Certus, adding Iridium GMDSS, as well as LRIT and SSAS, to the robust communication and safety capabilities of Iridium Certus.
Aviation
The company is one of the leading providers of mobile satellite communications services to the aviation sector, and it continues to see aviation as an area of potential revenue growth. The company’s services are increasingly used in commercial and government aviation applications, principally by business jets, corporate and government helicopter fleets, specialized general aviation fleets, such as medevac companies and fire suppression fleets, and high-end personal aircraft. Its services are also employed by commercial airline operators for flight deck voice and data link services for aircraft operational and safety communications. As a result of authorizations by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, and U.S. Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, for it to provide air traffic datalink communications, commercial operators are installing avionics that use the Iridium network on the flight deck to comply with international air navigation communications requirements to operate in oceanic and remote airspace, including polar regions. Voice and data avionics platforms from its VAMs have been adopted as standard equipment and as factory options for a range of airframes in business aviation and air transport, such as Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Bombardier Inc., Cessna Aircraft Company, Boeing and Airbus. Avionics platforms that utilize the company’s network are also retrofitted on thousands of corporate and commercial aircraft already in operation.
Aviation end users utilize the company’s satellite communications services for:
Air traffic control communications and safety applications: The International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, has approved standards and recommended practices allowing it to provide Aeronautical Mobile Satellite (Route) Service, or AMS(R)S, to commercial aircraft on long-haul routes. This allows member states to evaluate and approve its services for safety communications on flights in oceanic and remote airspace. The FAA has approved Iridium for use in the Future Air Navigation Services, or FANS, including Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract, or ADS-C, datalink communications and Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications, or CPDLC, with air traffic control. Aircraft crew and air traffic controllers use its services for data and voice communications between the aircraft flight deck and ground-based air traffic control facilities. The company is the only satellite provider capable of offering these critical flight safety applications around the entire globe, including the polar regions.
Aviation operational communications: Aircraft crew and ground operations use the company’s services for air-to-ground telephony and data communications. This includes the ADS-C automatic reporting of an aircraft’s position and mission-critical condition data to the ground and CPDLC for clearance and information services. It provides critical communications applications for numerous airlines and air transport customers, including Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines, UPS, FedEx, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Iceland Airlines, and El Al Airlines. These operators rely on its services because other forms of communication may be unaffordable or unreliable in areas, such as oceanic, remote and polar regions. Collins Aerospace (ARINC) and SITA, the two leading providers of voice and data link communications services and applications to the commercial airline industry rely on its products and services to deliver safe, reliable services to global operators.
Aviation passenger communications: Corporate and private fleet aircraft passengers use the company’s services for air-to-ground telephony and data communications. Its distributors’ small, lightweight, cost-effective solutions offer an attractive option for aircraft operators, particularly small fleet operators; for example, some operators use its services to enable small-cabin passengers to email using their own Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices, including smartphones, without causing interference with aircraft operation. The company expects that users in the corporate aviation market, and original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, for business jets, will increase adoption of its services for in-flight passenger data communications using its network.
Rotary and general aviation applications: The Iridium network is uniquely suited to these sectors, as it has small antenna designs that work under rotor blades and enable installation on smaller general aviation platforms. The company is also a major supplier for rotary aviation applications to end users in a number of markets, including medevac, law enforcement, oil and gas, and corporate work fleets. Companies, such as Air Logistics, EagleMed and Air Evac Lifeteam rely on applications from its distributors for traditional voice communications, fleet tracking and management, and real-time flight diagnostics. VARs and VAMs, such as Flightcell International Limited, Garmin Services Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., SkyTrac Systems Limited, and Spider Tracks Limited incorporate Iridium products and services into their applications for these markets.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): The company’s small antennas and system designs support a wide range of UAV platforms. In addition, its global footprint enables reliable, beyond-line-of-sight communications for these UAV platforms regardless of their operational range. The company operates as the communication link for remote-piloted aircraft for uses, such as package delivery, medical supply, power-line inspection, law enforcement, corporate surveying, and even military applications.
Commercial IoT Data
The company is one of the leading providers of satellite-based IoT services. As with land mobile, its largest IoT users include mining, construction, recreation, oil and gas, utilities, heavy industry, maritime, forestry and transport companies, as well as the military, public safety, and disaster relief agencies.
The company’s IoT services are used for:
Personal tracking devices and location-based services: Several of the company’s VARs, such as Garmin Services Inc., ACR Electronics, and Zoleo, Inc., market small, portable devices that provide personal tracking and data communications services to consumers and commercial end users. In addition, Iridium GO! and the Iridium Extreme handsets offer personal tracking and location-based services. These devices use IoT data services to send location information and other data to web-based portals for tracking.
Heavy equipment telematics: Large, global heavy equipment original equipment manufacturers, such as Caterpillar Inc., Komatsu Ltd, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. Ltd., HD Hyundai Infracore Co., Ltd. and Appareo Systems LLC, use its global IoT services to monitor their off-road heavy equipment in markets, such as construction, mining, agriculture, and forestry.
Fleet management: The company’s global coverage permits its products and services to be used to monitor the location of vehicle fleets, hours of service and engine telemetry data, as well as to conduct two-way communications with drivers around the world. Fleet management companies, such as I.D. Systems, MiX Telematics International (Pty) Ltd, and Omnilink Tecnologia S/A, use its service to provide distance drivers with reliable communications to their dispatchers and their destinations to coordinate changing business needs, and its satellite network provides continuous communications coverage while they are in transit.
Fixed-asset monitoring: Multinational corporations, such as oil-field service companies like Schlumberger Limited and ConocoPhillips Company, use its services through one of its service providers to run applications that allow remote monitoring and operation of equipment and facilities around the globe, such as oil pipelines and offshore drilling platforms.
Asset tracking: Leveraging IoT applications developed by several of the company’s distributors, companies use its services and related devices to track assets, including personnel, for logistics, theft-prevention and safety purposes. Companies and organizations that have fleets of vehicles use IoT solutions from Iridium distributors to improve the efficiency of their operations. For example, customers use Trimble Transportation’s solution to provide global communication to transportation assets, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Enforcement and Removal uses Fleet Management Solutions’ IoT solution to transmit position, direction, speed, and other data for management of its vehicle fleet.
Resource management: The company’s global coverage and data throughput capabilities support natural resource management applications, such as fisheries management systems. Three of its VARs—Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS), MetOcean Telematics Limited and Ground Control Technologies UK Ltd —have developed applications for the fishing industry that enable regulatory compliance of fishing practices in a number of countries around the world.
Scientific data monitoring: The global coverage of its network supports many scientific data collection applications, including the Argo float program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, the Global Ocean Observation project Challenger, operated by Rutgers University, and anti-poaching programs run by the Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Institute, the Zoological Society of London, and Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife, or VETPAW. These programs rely on its IoT services to collect scientific data from buoys and ocean gliders located throughout the world’s oceans and from wildlife habitats for monitoring and analysis.
Hosted Payload and Other Data Services
The company’s Iridium satellites also host customer payloads. It generates revenue from these customers both from the hosted payload capacity and from data service fees. Because the hosted payload revenues are based on a contractual commitment for the life of the Iridium constellation, it recognizes revenue from these customers over the expected life of the system.
In addition to access and usage fees in the vertical lines of business described above, the company generates revenue from several ancillary services related to its core service offerings. Following the company’s acquisition of Satelles, it offers PNT services, which provide a reliable complement or alternate to GPS in the event of disruptions, such as interference, jamming, or spoofing. The company provides inbound connections from the public switched telephone network, or PSTN, short message services, or SMS, subscriber identity module, or SIM, activation, customer reactivation, and other peripheral services. It also provides research and development services to assist customers in developing new technologies compatible with its system, which it may leverage for use in service and product offerings in the future. The company charges its distributors fees for these services.
U.S. Government
The company is one of the leading providers of mobile satellite communications services to the U.S. government, principally the DoD. It provides mobile satellite products and services to all branches of the U.S. armed forces. Its voice products are used for a variety of primary and backup communications solutions, including tactical operations, logistical, administrative, morale and welfare, and emergency communications. In addition, its products and related applications are installed on ground vehicles, ships, rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, embedded in unattended sensors and used for command and control and situational awareness purposes. Global security concerns are among the factors driving demand for the company’s products and services in this sector.
Seasonality
The company’s business is subject to seasonal usage changes for commercial customers.
Services and Products
The company’s principal services are mobile satellite services, including mobile voice and data services, IoT services, hosted payload and other data services and engineering services. In addition, the company offers services to U.S. government customers, including the DoD. U.S. government services, including engineering services.
Commercial Services
Postpaid Mobile Voice and Data Satellite Communications Services
The company sells its mobile voice and data services to service providers and VARs who in turn offer such services to end users, either directly or indirectly through dealers, using various packaged solutions, such as seasonal or annual plans with differing price levels that vary depending upon expected usage. In exchange for these services, it typically charges service providers and VARs a monthly access fee per subscriber, as well as usage fees for airtime resources consumed by their respective subscribers.
Prepaid Mobile Voice Satellite Communications Services
The company also offers mobile voice services to service providers and VARs through prepaid plans. Service providers and VARs pay it in advance for defined blocks of airtime minutes with expiration periods in various configurations, generally ranging from 30 days to two years. These services are then generally sold to subscribers in the form of prepaid e-vouchers and scratch cards that enable subscribers to use its services on a per-minute basis. The company’s distributors often offer its prepaid voice services through fixed devices to subscribers in rural villages, at remote industrial, commercial and residential sites, and on ships at sea, among other places. Fixed voice services are in many cases an attractive alternative to handheld mobile satellite communications services in situations where multiple users will access the service within a defined geographic area and terrestrial wireline, or wireless service is not available. Fixed phones, for example, can be configured as pay phones that accept prepaid scratch cards and can be installed at a central location, for example in a rural village or on a maritime vessel.
Iridium PTT Service
The company’s Iridium PTT service enables regional or global PTT calls among users on the same talkgroup in up to 10 customer-defined, geographically disparate locations around the world, providing a fast and robust communication experience. Iridium PTT can be used via the Iridium Extreme PTT satellite phone or the Iridium 9523 PTT core transceiver, which gives its VAMs the ability to build Iridium PTT into existing land mobile, maritime and aviation communications platforms. For example, Icom Inc. of Japan offers a purpose-built satellite PTT radio handheld unit and fixed installation PTT radio for use on the Iridium network. The company and its partners are also developing interoperability solutions for existing terrestrial land mobile radio systems, which will further extend the utility of the service.
Internet of Things Services
The company’s IoT services are designed to address the market need for a small and cost-effective solution for sending and receiving data, such as location, from fixed and mobile assets in remote locations to a central monitoring station. Most of its IoT services operate through a two-way SBD transmission or circuit-switched data, between its network and a transceiver, which may be located, for example, on a container in transit or a buoy monitoring oceanographic conditions. The small size of its devices and their low-cost, omnidirectional antennas make them attractive for use in applications, such as tracking asset shipments and monitoring unattended remote assets, including oil and gas assets, as well as vehicle tracking and mobile security. The company sells its IoT services to its distributors, who incorporate them and in turn provide a solution package to commercial and government customers. Increasingly, its IoT transceivers are being built into products for consumer markets, such as personal location devices that provide two-way messaging. In the future, the company expects its IoT partners to develop new offerings with increased capabilities for various applications based on its Iridium Certus 9770 transceiver and the new Iridium Certus 9704 transceiver, with improved size, speed, power, and antenna characteristics. As with its mobile voice and data offerings, the company typically charge service providers and VARs a monthly access fee per subscriber, as well as usage fees for data used by their respective subscribers.
Broadband Data Services
The company’s broadband data offering, Iridium Certus, was launched in January 2019. Iridium Certus is a suite of products and services enabled by its upgraded satellite constellation. Iridium Certus is a multi-service platform capable of offering higher quality voice, enterprise-grade broadband functionality, and safety and security services on a global basis. Iridium Certus is designed to support a variety of cost points, antenna types and data speeds ranging from midband to broadband speeds, available up to 704 Kbps. The company has licensed the Iridium Certus technology to VAMs who have introduced products for the maritime and land mobile markets and are developing additional products for those markets and the aviation and government markets, as well as distribution partners for the Iridium Certus service in each of these vertical markets.
The company also continues to offer its legacy Iridium OpenPort service, which provides maritime, aviation, and terrestrial users speeds of up to 134 Kbps and three independent voice lines. For this service, it typically charges service providers monthly access fees and usage fees for airtime consumed by the respective subscribers for voice and data communications. The company has discontinued the manufacture of the Iridium Pilot platform that supports Iridium OpenPort services, with those customers often upgrading to Iridium Certus technology.
Iridium Satellite Time and Location Services
Following the company’s acquisition of Satelles in April 2024, it began offering Iridium Satellite Time and Location, or STL, and other services. These alternative PNT solutions allow users to secure GPS and other GNSS-reliant systems’ time-synchronized applications from vulnerabilities like spoofing and jamming, with small, low-cost hardware that does not require outdoor antennas. Like other Iridium services, STL is capable of service everywhere on the planet, helping secure critical infrastructure, data centers, 5G base stations and applications across the aviation, maritime, land mobile, and IoT sectors.
U.S. Government Services
The company provides U.S. government customers bulk access to its services, including voice, netted voice, data, messaging and paging services, as well as maintenance services for the U.S. government’s dedicated gateway. It provides airtime to U.S. government subscribers through the U.S. government’s gateway under the EMSS contract, which is a fixed-price contract covering voice, low-speed data, paging, broadcast and DTCS services. Additional services, such as broadband capabilities utilizing Iridium Certus technology, may be provided at an additional fee. To comply with U.S. government requirements, it ensures handsets sold for use by the U.S. government are manufactured in the United States. U.S. government customers procure its voice and data devices through specific, approved distributors from its network of service providers and VARs. The company’s VARs and VAMs typically integrate its products with other products, which they then offer to U.S. government customers as customized products, typically provisioned by the U.S. Space Force. The company’s voice and data solutions for the U.S. government include: personnel tracking devices; asset tracking devices for equipment, vehicles and aircraft; beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications applications; maritime communications applications; specialized communications solutions for high-value individuals; and specialized, secure, mobile communications and data devices for the military and other government agencies, such as secure satellite handsets with U.S. National Security Agency Type I encryption capability.
With funding support from the U.S. government, the company continues to invest in research and development to develop new products and applications for use by all branches of the U.S. armed forces. For example, in conjunction with the U.S. Space Force, it and select distribution partners offer DTCS, which provides critical, secure, PTT, netted communications using lightweight, handheld tactical radios, or add-ons to existing government tactical radios. In addition, the company offers a secure satellite phone based on the Iridium Extreme, which it also developed with funding support from the U.S. government, and which has been accredited by the National Security Agency, or NSA, to provide Type-1 encryption, enabling communications up to Top Secret from anywhere in the world. The company also provides PNT services to the U.S. government, delivering a resilient and diverse PNT signal over the Iridium constellation, to provide an alternative position, navigation and timing (APNT) capability.
Products
The company offers a broad array of voice and data products that work worldwide. In most cases, its devices or an antenna must be located outside and within view of a satellite to be able to access its network.
Satellite Handsets and Iridium GO!
The company’s principal handset offerings are the Iridium 9555 and Iridium Extreme satellite phones.
Iridium 9555: The Iridium 9555 provides voice, SMS and narrowband data connectivity. This model features a grayscale screen, SMS capability, an integrated antenna and a speakerphone. The Iridium 9555 weighs 9.4 ounces and offers up to 3.1 hours of talk time. The Iridium 9555 has an industrial feel with a rugged housing to protect its sophisticated satellite transceiver.
Iridium Extreme: The Iridium Extreme adds to the Iridium 9555’s capabilities by providing a rugged exterior that meets Military Standard 810F for durability, a dedicated, two-way emergency SOS button, and fully integrated GPS and location-based services. These extra features are provided in a handset that is even smaller than the Iridium 9555, weighing 8.7 ounces and offering up to four hours of talk time. An emergency response service provided by GEOS Travel Safety Group, or GEOS, is included with the purchase of the phone and airtime usage. The two-way emergency SOS button initiates a voice call and an emergency text message via SMS to GEOS, which then coordinates with local emergency responders.
Iridium Extreme PTT: The Iridium Extreme PTT enhances the Iridium Extreme with an intelligently designed push-to-talk mode, expanded speakerphone, reinforced PTT button, and extended capacity battery. The user interface provides access to multiple communication services, including voice calling, SMS and SOS, allowing users to connect to a talkgroup located in up to 10 customer-defined geographic regions worldwide. The Iridium Extreme PTT weighs 9.5 ounces and offers up to 6.5 hours of talk time for voice calls and five hours of talk time while using PTT.
Iridium GO! Iridium GO! is a small, rugged, personal connectivity device that connects to the Iridium network to create a Wi-Fi hotspot, enabling the use of smartphones and tablets for voice calls, text messages and emails, posts to social networking sites, and limited use of optimized mobile websites. Iridium GO! also has an emergency SOS button and GPS and location-based services. Smartphone or tablet access is provided through special applications downloaded for free from the Apple App Store or through Google Play for Android smartphones or tablets. A software development kit is available to enable the creation of additional applications or integrate Iridium GO! connectivity into existing applications.
Iridium GO! Exec: Iridium GO! exec, a premium version of the Iridium GO! is powered by its Iridium Certus 100 service and provides IP connectivity to the Internet and up to two high-quality voice lines. Data speeds are up to 40 times faster for downloads and 10 times faster for uploads compared to the Iridium GO!. The Iridium GO! exec has a sleek design with built-in color touch screen and speakerphone for mobile office connectivity and Wi-Fi for access from smartphones or laptops within a range of up to 100 feet. The built-in battery provides up to 24 hours of standby and up to 6 hours of use.
The company offers variants of the Iridium 9555 satellite phone and the Iridium Extreme satellite phone that are qualified for sale to U.S. government customers.
Broadband Data Devices
Iridium Certus terminals are specifically designed for the maritime, aviation, land mobile or government markets and offer a variety of enhanced data speeds and antenna types. Iridium Certus terminals provide enterprise-grade broadband data and high-quality voice capabilities that can be used on a global basis. Iridium Certus is designed to support a variety of cost points, antenna types and data speeds ranging from midband to broadband up to 704 Kbps. It has licensed the Iridium Certus technology to a group of VAMs who have introduced products for the maritime and land mobile markets and are developing additional products for those markets, as well as the aviation and government markets.
Iridium Certus is designed for maritime operational and safety services, combining the benefits of L-band with broadband and truly global coverage. Iridium Certus terminals offer reliable connectivity for maritime customers whether used as a standalone service or as a companion to broadband services using the Ka, Ku or C bands. The company’s principal end users for Iridium Certus in the maritime markets are merchant shipping, commercial fishing, large leisure vessels, and work boats. The initial terminals in this market were the Cobham Sailor 4300 and Thales VesseLINK. In addition, Intellian, a Korean maritime terminal manufacturer, introduced an Iridium Certus terminal to the market in 2020, and Thales introduced its VesseLINK 200 terminal, which uses its Iridium Certus 200 service, in 2021. Additional Iridium Certus 200 terminals were launched in 2023 and 2024, including the Lars Thrane LT-4200 and the Intellian c200, and its partners continue to develop additional products.
In aviation, Iridium Certus delivers critical safety services and in-flight communications. The company’s principal targeted end users for Iridium Certus in the aviation market include commercial, corporate and government users, general aviation, rotorcraft and unmanned aircraft. Terminals certified in this sector include the Blue Sky Networks SkyLink 7100, Guardian Mobility G6, Atmosphere Planet 9770, Honeywell Aspire 350, Collins IRT NX, and Skytrac SDL-350. A number of other VAMs have been licensed to create aviation terminals using Iridium Certus services, and it expects that additional Iridium Certus aviation products will become commercially available in 2025.
In the land mobile market, enterprises, governments, and individuals that want to maintain mobile IP and telephony connectivity utilize Iridium Certus for their operations while in remote areas without having to deploy ground-based infrastructure or expensive terminals. Iridium Certus devices may be integrated with internet, cellular, land mobile radio, and location-based applications to keep users connected, offering global push-to-talk, situational awareness, email, messaging and voice-over-IP. The company’s principal end users for Iridium Certus in the land mobile markets are military users, rail, first responders, non-governmental organizations, oil and gas users, and remote fleets. Iridium offers Iridium Certus 100, Iridium Certus 200 and Iridium Certus 700 services, supporting a portfolio of broadband and midband terminals through its partners to provide a range of capabilities at various price points. Terminals that are approved for the land mobile market include the Thales MissionLINK 700 and 200, BSN SkyLink 5100, NAL Research Quicksilver, and McQ CONNECT.
The company’s legacy broadband terminal, the Iridium Pilot, provides up to three independent voice lines and an internet connection for data communications of up to 134 Kbps, using its Iridium OpenPort service. It has discontinued the manufacture of the Iridium Pilot terminal but still provide the Iridium OpenPort service.
Voice and Data Modems
The company also offers a combined voice transceiver and data modem, which its VAMs integrate into a variety of communications solutions that are deployed in different applications around the world. Its offering in this category is the Iridium Core 9523 L-band transceiver, which utilizes the transceiver core of its Iridium Extreme satellite handset. The Iridium Core 9523 is a small voice and data module that can be integrated with other components and allows its VAMs to design and build products, such as a dual-mode terrestrial radio and satellite phone or IoT applications that require more efficient data throughput via circuit-switched data transmission. The Iridium 9523 PTT adds PTT capability, allowing development partners to design and build land mobile, fixed, aviation and maritime devices with Iridium PTT service. The company also offers the Iridium Certus 9770 transceiver, which provides Iridium Certus 100 service to its Iridium GO! exec device and several devices offered by its value-added partners. The company expects its partners to continue to develop new products based on its Iridium Certus 9770 transceiver and other optimized midband devices. The company’s principal customers for its L-band transceivers are VAMs and VARs, who integrate them into specialized devices that access its network.
Internet of Things Data Devices
The company’s principal IoT devices are the Iridium 9602 and 9603 full-duplex SBD transceivers. The Iridium 9602 is a small data device with two-way transmission, capable of sending packet data to and from any point in the world with low latency. The principal customers for its Iridium 9602 data modems are VARs and VAMs, who embed the device into their tracking, sensor, and data applications and systems, such as asset tracking systems. The company’s partners often combine the Iridium 9602 with a GPS receiver to provide location information to customer applications. It also offers the Iridium 9603, an even smaller transceiver that is functionally identical to the Iridium 9602. In addition, a number of VARs and VAMs include a cellular modem as part of their Iridium applications to provide low-cost cellular data transmission when available. These types of multimode applications are adopted by end users who require the ability to regularly transfer data but operate in areas with inconsistent cellular coverage. It provides gap-filler coverage for these applications, allowing users to operate anywhere on the globe. In addition, several partners offer products with Iridium Certus 9770 transceivers supporting Iridium Certus 100 service for IoT, including the SkyLink product from Blue Sky Networks and the RockREMOTE from Ground Control. In 2024, the company introduced the Iridium 9704 transceiver, featuring Iridium Messaging Transport (IMT) technology, which provides larger file transfer sizes and faster message speeds than previous Iridium IoT modules, delivering data, picture, and audio messages for industrial (IIoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) and remote personnel use cases.
Iridium also offers a suite of Iridium Edge finished IoT products designed to lower the barrier to adoption and speed time to market for customer applications. The Iridium Edge device is an off-the-shelf, environmentally sealed, rugged device that complements existing cellular solutions to create dual-mode connectivity for the most remote and inaccessible areas of the world, reducing the cost and complications associated with hardware development, manufacture and certification of satellite-specific terminals. The company also offers Iridium Edge Pro, a standalone IoT device that offers real-time GPS tracking capabilities, with a flexible programming platform that allows partners to create and run their own custom-made applications, and Iridium Edge Solar, a standalone, programmable, solar-powered device that offers real-time GPS tracking in a self-charging, low-maintenance unit with over-the-air configuration that allows partners to create distinct tracking applications.
The company also offers Iridium Burst, its one-to-many global data broadcast service, which enables enterprises to send data to an unlimited number of devices anywhere in the world, even inside buildings, vehicles or aircraft.
Device Development and Manufacturing
The company contracts with Cambridge Consulting Ltd. and other suppliers to develop its new products and services, with Benchmark Electronics Inc., or Benchmark, to manufacture most of its devices in a facility in Thailand, and with Verigon to manufacture a portion of its devices in the United States. It also utilizes other suppliers, some of which are the sole source, to manufacture some of the component parts of its devices.
In addition to the company’s principal products, it also offers a selection of accessories for its devices, including extended-life batteries, holsters, earbud headphones, portable auxiliary antennas, antenna adaptors, USB data cables and charging units. The company purchases these products from several third-party suppliers either pursuant to contractual agreements or off the shelf at market prices.
Domestic and Foreign Revenue
The company supplies services and products to customers in a number of foreign countries. It allocates revenue geographically based on where it invoices its distributors, whom it bills for mobile satellite services and related equipment sales, and not according to the location of the end user. These distributors sell services directly or indirectly to end users, who may be located elsewhere.
Traffic Originating Outside the United States
Most of the company’s voice and data traffic originates outside the United States.
Network
The company’s satellite network has an architecture of 66 operational LEO satellites in six orbital planes of eleven vehicles, each in nearly circular polar orbits, in addition to in-orbit spares and related ground infrastructure. Its operational satellites orbit at an altitude of approximately 483 miles (778 kilometers) above the earth and travel at approximately 16,689 miles per hour, resulting in a complete orbit of the earth approximately every 100 minutes. The design of its constellation ensures that generally at least one satellite is visible to subscribers from any point on the earth’s surface at any given time.
The company’s constellation uses radio frequency crosslinks between its satellites, which eliminates the need for local ground infrastructure. These crosslinks enable each satellite to communicate with up to four other satellites in space, two in the same orbital plane and two in adjacent planes. Its traffic is routed on a preplanned route between satellites to a predetermined satellite that is in contact with one of the Iridium teleport networks, or TPN, locations. The TPN sites then transmit and receive the traffic to and from the gateways, which in turn provide the interface to terrestrial-based networks, such as the PSTN, a public land mobile network, or PLMN, and the internet. The use of a TPN allows grounding traffic at multiple locations within its ground network infrastructure. This and other design elements provide flexibility that allows for rapid reconfiguration of grounding traffic from the satellites in the event of a space, antenna or ground routing anomaly and results in greater reliability of its network. The design of its space and ground control system also facilitates the real-time monitoring and management of the satellite constellation and facilitates service upgrades via software enhancements.
The company has the only satellite network with true global coverage using weather-resilient L-band spectrum, and its constellation is less vulnerable to single points of failure, as traffic can be routed around any one satellite problem to complete the communications path to the ground. In addition, the small number of ground stations increases the security of its constellation, a factor that makes its network particularly attractive to government institutions and large enterprises. The low orbit of its constellation and L-band frequencies also allows its network to operate with low latency and with smaller antennas due to the proximity of the company’s satellites to the earth.
The company’s constellation is designed to provide significant coverage overlap for mitigation of service gaps from individual satellite outages, particularly at higher northern and southern latitudes. Each satellite in its constellation was designed with a high degree of on-board subsystem robustness, an on-board fault detection system, and isolation and recovery capabilities for safe and quick risk mitigation.
The company’s primary commercial gateway is located in Tempe, Arizona, with a second commercial gateway located in Russia for traffic within Russian boundaries only. A gateway processes and terminates calls and data and generates and controls user information pertaining to registered users, such as geo-location and call detail records. The U.S. government owns and operates a dedicated gateway for U.S. government users, which provides an interface between voice and data devices and the Defense Information Systems Network and other terrestrial infrastructure, providing U.S. government users with secure communications capabilities. Its network has multiple antennas located at the TPN facilities, including the Tempe gateway, that communicate with its satellites and pass calls and data between the gateway and the satellites as the satellites pass above its antennas, thereby connecting signals from the terminals of end users to its gateways. This system, together with the company’s satellite crosslinks, enables communications that are not dependent on a ground station in the region where the end user is using its services.
The company operates its satellite constellation from its satellite network operations center, or SNOC, in Leesburg, Virginia. This facility manages the performance and status of each of its satellites, directing traffic routing through the network and controlling the formation of coverage areas by the satellites’ main mission antennas. The company also operates TPN facilities in Fairbanks, Alaska and Tempe, Arizona in the United States, in Svalbard, Norway, and in Punta Arenas, Chile that perform telemetry, tracking and control functions and route commercial services.
From time to time, individual satellites in its constellation experience operating problems that may result in a satellite outage, but due to the overlapping coverage within the company’s constellation and the dynamic nature of its LEO system, the individual satellite outages typically do not negatively affect its customers’ use of its system for a prolonged period. In addition, most system processing related to its service is performed using software on board each satellite instead of on the ground.
The company continually monitors and upgrades its gateway and TPN facilities as necessary and maintain an inventory of spare parts. The company holds a renewable space station license, which expires February 23, 2032, for the launch and operation of its constellation. Its U.S. gateway earth station licenses and the blanket earth station licenses for serving the U.S. government customers and commercial subscribers expire between February 2036 and March 2037. Renewal applications for these earth station licenses must be filed between 30 and 90 days prior to expiration.
The Iridium constellation also hosts the Aireon system. The Aireon system was developed by Aireon LLC, which the company formed in 2011, and which received subsequent investments from several ANSPs, to provide a global air traffic surveillance service through a series of ADS-B receivers on its satellites. Aireon has contracted to offer this service to ANSPs, which use the service to provide improved air traffic control services over the oceans, as well as polar and remote regions. Aireon also markets its data and services to airlines and other commercial users.
While the Aireon ADS-B receivers are the primary hosted payload on its satellites, L3Harris utilizes a portion of the remaining space for its customers’ payloads.
Regulatory Matters
Spectrum
The company holds licenses to use 8.725 MHz of contiguous spectrum in the L-band, which operates at 1.6 GHz, and allows for two-way communication between its devices and its satellites. In addition, it is authorized to use 200 MHz of K-Band (23 GHz) spectrum for satellite-to-satellite communications, known as inter-satellite links, and 400 MHz of Ka-Band spectrum (19.4 GHz to 19.6 GHz and 29.1 GHz to 29.3 GHz) for two-way communication between its satellites and ground stations, known as feeder links. The company is also authorized to use the 156.0125-162.0375 MHz spectrum for reception of Automatic Identification System transmissions from maritime vessels and the 1087.7-1092.3 MHz spectrum for reception of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast transmissions from aircraft. Access to this spectrum enables it to design satellites, network and terrestrial infrastructure enhancements cost effectively because each product and service can be deployed and sold globally. Its products and services are offered in over 100 countries, and the company and its distributors continue to seek authorizations in additional countries.
The company’s use of spectrum is globally coordinated and recorded by, and subject to the frequency rules and regulations of, the International Telecommunication Union, or ITU. The ITU is the United Nations organization responsible for worldwide co-operation in the telecommunications sector. In order to protect satellite systems from harmful radio frequency interference from other satellite systems, the ITU maintains a Master International Frequency Register of radio frequency assignments. Each ITU administration is required to give notice of, coordinate and record its proposed use of radio frequency assignments with the ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau. The coordination negotiations are conducted by the national administrations with the assistance of satellite operators. When the coordination process is completed, the ITU formally notifies all proposed users of frequencies and orbital locations in order to protect the recorded assignments from subsequent nonconforming or interfering uses by member states of the ITU. Only member states have full standing within this inter-governmental organization. Filings to the ITU are made on its behalf by the United States.
The company’s network has been assigned the 8816 and 8817 country codes and uses these numbers for calling and communications between terminals.
Constellation Orbital Debris Obligations
The company has certain orbital debris mitigation obligations under its FCC licenses. All of the company’s second-generation satellites are subject to a 25-year de-orbit standard under the FCC authorization of its constellation.
Aireon LLC and Aireon Holdings LLC Agreement
Ther company holds its ownership in Aireon LLC through the Amended and Restated Aireon Holdings LLC Agreement, along with subsidiaries of its ANSP co-investors. Aireon Holdings holds 100% of the membership interests in Aireon LLC, which is the operating entity for the Aireon system.
In June 2022, the company entered into a subscription agreement with Aireon Holdings for an approximate 6% preferred membership interest. The company also holds a common membership interest.
Competition
The company’s principal mobile satellite services competitors are Viasat, Globalstar, ORBCOMM, and Thuraya Telecommunications Co., or Thuraya.
Research and Development
The company’s research and development expenses were $28.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2024, the company held 46 U.S. patents and one foreign patent. These patents relate to several aspects of satellite systems, global networks, communications services, and communications devices.
In addition to the company’s owned intellectual property, it also licenses certain legacy intellectual property from Motorola Solutions that it uses to operate and maintain aspects of its network and related ground infrastructure and services, as well as to design and manufacture certain of its devices. The company maintains its licenses with Motorola Solutions pursuant to several agreements, any of which can be terminated by Motorola Solutions upon the commencement by or against it of any bankruptcy proceeding or other specified liquidation proceedings or upon its material failure to perform or comply with any provision of the agreement that remains uncured for a specified period of time following written notice from Motorola Solutions.
History
The company was formerly known as Iridium Holdings LLC and changed its name to Iridium Communications Inc. in 2009.
