The Iridium 9604 is built on the u-blox SARA-R5 platform.
Iridium announced the Iridium 9604 IoT launch on February 24.
Ground Control, as an early Iridium 9604 developer, eliminated two components from its bill of materials, reduced its board size, and simplified its power architecture by using the Iridium 9604.
Iridium launched a three-in-one IoT module called Iridium 9604 that integrates Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) satellite service, LTE-M cellular connectivity, and GNSS positioning into a single platform.
The Iridium 9604 is built on the u-blox SARA-R5 platform.
Commercial availability for the Iridium 9604 will begin in June 2026.
Iridium characterized the Iridium 9604 as a compact form factor suitable for dual-mode IoT deployments.
Iridium positioned the 9604 as a move from satellite-only components toward a multi-mode architecture to facilitate Direct-to-Device (D2D) use cases.
The Iridium 9604 Development Kit will be released simultaneously with commercial availability to allow engineers to test simultaneous satellite and cellular service switching.
The Iridium 9604 reduces required board space by more than 60% compared to traditional multi-component designs.
The Iridium 9604 beta program earlier this year was oversubscribed by a select group of companies.
On February 24, 2026, Iridium Communications Inc. launched the Iridium 9604, a compact hardware module designed to unify satellite, cellular, and positioning services.
Ground Control’s use of the Iridium 9604 enabled smarter, location-aware network selection in its application through dual-mode connectivity options.
The Iridium 9604 integrates satellite, cellular, and positioning connectivity technologies into a single 16 mm x 26 mm x 2.4 mm form factor.
Manjula Sriram is Chief Information Officer at Iridium and has led adoption of cloud architectures, enhanced cybersecurity frameworks, and data analytics platforms at the company.
Iridium reported total service revenue of $634 million in 2025, up 3% over 2024.
Iridium reported pro forma free cash flow of almost $300 million in 2025.
Iridium met its 2025 guidance, achieving service revenue growth of 3%.
Iridium is working to embed its PNT services directly in smartphone and other consumer device processors and to apply PNT in cybersecurity and data networks.
Iridium’s broadband revenue declined 10% to $51 million in 2025, with broadband increasingly used in lower-priced companion plans and trending toward a backup option rather than a primary service.