Iridium reported total revenue of $790,700,000 for 2023, a 10% increase year-on-year.
Iridium’s $3,000,000,000 Iridium Next constellation supports services including broadband, connectivity for monitoring and tracking Internet of Things devices, and a planned direct-to-smartphone business.
Iridium reported service revenue of $584,500,000 for 2023 and expects service revenue growth of 4–6% for 2024.
Iridium expects a 5–10% hit to average revenue per user in 2024 from losing maritime broadband business to SpaceX’s Starlink.
Iridium recorded net income of $15,400,000 for 2023, up from $8,700,000 in 2022.
Ligado maintains that the April 2020 FCC decision authorizing the company to operate terrestrial 0.005 kg is final and intends to oppose Iridium’s request to intervene in the proceedings.
Ligado paused its plans to deploy the terrestrial network in 2022 after a review by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded the network would likely interfere with some GPS signals and Iridium’s L-band connectivity services.
Iridium’s network supports approximately 1,300 SOS and emergency (911 or equivalent) incidents per year worldwide.
Iridium is designing its initial NB-IoT offering to support 0.005 kg NTN messaging and SOS capabilities for smartphones, tablets, and cars.
As of the third quarter of 2023, Iridium serves approximately 1.7 million IoT customers.
Iridium provides 24/7 customer support along with back office, billing, and provisioning systems to support partners for new services upon launch.
The Iridium satellite constellation uses a fully crosslinked LEO architecture and operates in global L-band spectrum.
Iridium considered partnering with a narrowband startup to deliver the direct-to-device capability.
Iridium joined 3GPP in November to help develop a future standards release for 0.005 kg direct-to-device communications.
Iridium launched a direct-to-device strategy called Project Stardust on 2024-01-10.
Iridium GMDSS provides support and life-saving help to distressed mariners at sea.
Iridium GMDSS is an automated ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship service regulated by the International Maritime Organization’s SOLAS convention.
In 2020, Iridium GMDSS became the world’s first and only truly global, real-time maritime emergency service.
Iridium Communications Inc. has launched the Iridium Global Maritime Distress and Safety System Academy (GMDSS Academy) to provide curricula specific to GMDSS and related safety services.
The GMDSS Academy curricula consist of three training packs: The Iridium Network, Iridium GMDSS, and Iridium Maritime Security Services.