Iridium already supplies satellite-based telephony to the armed forces, first responders and some key non-governmental organisations. The company says it now expects to start Direct-To-Device (D2D) satellite-phone calls in 2026.

Iridium made the comments during its 2024 full year results (total revenue in 2024 of $830.7 million (€792.8m), which was up 5 per cent from the year-ago period). Iridium serves 415,000 subscribers and a further 1,887,000 for Internet of Things connections. For the full year, Iridium reported net income of $112.8 million.

The positive news pushed Iridium’s share price up 15 per cent on February 13th.

CEO Matt Desch said he expected the introduction of D2D services to make a “material contribution” to its revenue numbers during 2027 and grow significantly by 2029.

Desch added that Iridium had been testing its L-band D2D scheme with at lest one handset manufacturer. Iridium has global rights to its L-band frequencies.

Other posts by :

1. Nvidia unveils orbital chip/computer for AI and data
2. Space Sector: ‘Profound Acceleration in 2026’
3. Starcloud wants 88,000 satellites
4. Lynk Global requests “experimental” satellite access
5. Safran Space links laser direct to satellite
6. SpaceX fearful of AST SpaceMobile’s potential?
7. Equatys wants 2,800 new satellites
8. FCC eyes freeing up Weird Space Stuff spectrum
9. SES happy with releasing 160MHz of spectrum for 5G

Categories: Articles, Business, Results

Tags: d2d, iridium