Advanced Television

iridium

Iridium deal a “watershed” moment for Rocket Lab

Capital market and investment company Clear Street has issued its clients with a report on how it sees Rocket Lab’s acquistion of satellite operator Iridium, describing the transaction as a “watershed” moment for Rocket Lab. “[The deal] effectively transforming the firm into a true vertically integrated space operator. By combining its industry- leading launch and […]

June 30, 2026

Rocket Lab to acquire Iridium for $8bn

Rocket Lab, a specialist in launch and space systems and Iridium Communications, a provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite services, have entered into a definitive agreement under which Rocket Lab will acquire Iridium. Rocket Lab will acquire all the outstanding shares of Iridium common stock for $54 per share […]

June 29, 2026By Chris Forrester

New LEO trade association formed

A group of satellite operators has formed a trade body to represent their interests in the Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) sector. The founding members are Amazon, Iridium, Telesat and Globalstar in the SpaceConnect Association. The aim is to represent and advocate for issues such as open markets, competitive choice, responsibility in space and global parity, […]

June 25, 2026By Chris Forrester

Iridium acquires Aireon

Satellite operator Iridium Communications has entered into an agreement to acquire Aireon, which operates the world’s only space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) air traffic surveillance system. Buying Aireon is a major step in Iridium’s strategy to provide the foundational architecture for global aviation safety, bringing space-based surveillance, safety communications, Positioning, Navigation & Tiiming (PNT), and […]

May 15, 2026By Chris Forrester

Morgan Stanley downgrades Iridium

Investment bank Morgan Stanley, reportedly a front-runner bank to handle an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for SpaceX’s Starlink – has downgraded satellite operator Iridium and has cut its former price steeply from $37 to $24 and a new share price target for Iridium. The bank advised clients that its outlook for Iridium shifts from ‘Overweight’ […]

January 20, 2026

Iridium lowers forecasts

Specialist satellite operator Iridium, which provides highly-secure connectivity to the world’s governments, military and first-responders in disaster situations, has altered its forecasts for the next few years. The company’s core Q3 results were solid, with revenue of $226.9 million (€195m) vs analyst estimates of $223.2 million (6.7 per cent year-on-year growth). Iridium, with its 66 […]

October 27, 2025By Chris Forrester

Mavenir selected by Iridium

Mavenir, the cloud-native network infrastructure provider building the future of networks, has been selected by Iridium Communications, a provider of global voice and data satellite communications, to deploy the Core Network of its Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), helping to enable – 3GPP based Direct-to-Device (D2D) services. In support of Iridium NTN Direct, Mavenir will deliver its fully […]

September 24, 2025

Iridium to start testing D2D

Iridium, already a popular satellite system and in favour with military and first responders, says it will begin testing its satellite direct-to-device (D2D) service this summer with Norway’s Nordic Semiconductor. How long it will take before Iridium’s L-band D2D narrowband solution – which starts with just texting – will be integrated into chipsets for mobile […]

April 24, 2025By Chris Forrester

Iridium to start D2D in 2026

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 […]

February 14, 2025By Chris Forrester

Iridium launches $500m share buy-back

Satellite communications specialists Iridium is funding $500 million (€448.7m) to buy back its own shares for cancellation. The move, approved by its directors on September 19th, is the largest-ever for the company which supplies satellite-based connectivity to government agencies, NGOs, the military and emergency ‘first responders’. It is the fourth buyback from Iridium in the […]

September 24, 2024By Chris Forrester