Iridium Announces Manufacturing Partners for Next-Generation Broadband Service

Iridium Communications Inc. today announced the selection of four manufacturing partners that will design, manufacture and distribute products for its Iridium Certus broadband service.

The four partners were selected out of 30 candidates based on their commitment to innovation, technical capabilities, market reach and investment. They are Cobham SATCOM, Rockwell Collins, L-3, and ICG (International Communications Group).

Iridium will provide Iridium Certus manufacturing partners with the core satellite communications technology. Initial products from these manufacturing partners are expected to be commercially available in late 2016, following the availability of prototype transceivers from Iridium in second quarter 2015. Iridium will also assist these partners' development efforts with technical support and testing services, as well as terminal reference designs.

"We are proud to be teaming up with these companies, which represent the best-in-class in their respective industries," said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. "Iridium remains committed to our wholesale distribution strategy, and with Iridium Certus broadband we will be working in close collaboration with—not in competition to— these manufacturing companies. Together, we will be able to deliver the first broadband products and services that truly meet the business-critical communications needs of individuals and organizations in the air, on land and at sea who need to reliably share data no matter where they are on the globe."

Demand for satellite broadband is rapidly expanding, and a recent Northern Sky Research forecast shows wholesale mobile satellite broadband service revenue will increase three-fold over the next decade to over $5 billion annually, of which L-band — the frequency band of Iridium Certus — will constitute one-third.