Iridium Communications Inc. (IRDM)

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Matthew Desch, $IRDM Iridium Communications CEO, speaks to CNBC's Morgan Brennan about SpaceX's recent launch of Iridium satellites into space, and the "ambitious...

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000584939

https://www.iridium.com/

http://finance.yahoo.com/quote/IRDM/key-statistics?p=IRDM

About Iridium

Iridium Communications Inc., incorporated on November 2 2007, is a satellite communications company that offers mobile voice and data communications services via satellite, and provides communications services offering true global coverage. The Company provides services to businesses, the United States and foreign governments, non-governmental organizations and consumers via its satellite network, which has over 70 in-orbit satellites with in orbit spares and related ground infrastructure. Its satellite network provides communications services to regions of the world, including remote land areas, open ocean, airways, the polar regions and regions where the telecommunications infrastructure has been affected by political conflicts or natural disasters. The Company utilizes mesh architecture to route traffic across its satellite constellation using radio frequency crosslinks between satellites. The Company sells its products and services to customers through a wholesale distribution network of approximately 75 service providers, approximately 200 value-added resellers (VARs) and over 45 value-added manufacturers (VAMs).

The Company's commercial end user base includes markets, such as emergency services, maritime, aviation, government, utilities, oil and gas, mining, recreation, forestry, heavy equipment, construction and transportation. Ship crews and passengers use its services for ship-to-shore calling, as well as to send and receive e-mail and data files and to receive electronic media weather reports emergency bulletins and electronic charts. Shipping operators use its services to manage operations on board ships and to transmit data, such as course speed and fuel stock. Aviation end users use its services for air-to-ground telephony and data communications for position reporting, emergency tracking, weather information, electronic flight bag updates and fleet information. Commercial enterprises use its services to track assets in remote areas and provide telematics information, such as location and engine diagnostics.

The Company's voice and data products are used for various primary and backup communications solutions, including logistical, administrative, morale and welfare, tactical and emergency communications. In addition, the Company's products are installed in ground vehicles, ships, rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, and are used for command-and-control and situational awareness purposes. Its satellite network provides increased network security to the United Sates Department of Defense (DoD). The Company's lines of business include land mobile, machine to machine (M2M), maritime, aviation and government. Its commercial services include postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications services; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications services; broadband data services; M2M services; Iridium push-to-talk (PTT) service, and other services. Its M2M services are used for fleet management, fixed-asset monitoring, asset tracking, resource management, scientific data monitoring, and personal tracking devices and location-based services.

The Company's voice and data solutions include personnel tracking devices; asset tracking devices for equipment, vehicles and aircraft; beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications applications; submarine communications applications; specialized communications solutions for high-value individuals, and specialized, secure, mobile communications and data devices for the military and intelligence community, such as secure satellite handsets. It offers a range of voice and data products, such as satellite handsets, which include Iridium 9555, Iridium Extreme and Iridium Extreme PTT; Iridium GO!, which is a personal connectivity device that connects to the Iridium network to create a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) hotspot, enabling the use of smartphones and tablets to make voice calls, send text messages and e-mails, post to social networking sites and use the mobile Web; voice and data modems, which include Iridium Core 9523 L-Band transceiver and 9522B L-Band transceiver; broadband data devices, and M2M data devices. In addition, the Company offers a selection of accessories for its devices, including batteries, holsters, earbud headphones, portable auxiliary antennas, antenna adaptors and charging units.

Postpaid Mobile Voice and Data Satellite Communications Services

The Company sells its mobile voice and data services to service providers and VARs offering such services to end users, either directly or indirectly through dealers, using various packaged solutions, such as monthly plans with differing price levels that vary depending upon expected usage. In exchange for these services, it typically charge service providers and VARs a monthly access fee per subscriber, as well as usage fees for airtime minutes used by their respective subscribers.

Prepaid Mobile Voice Satellite Communications Services

The Company offers mobile voice services to service providers and VARs through prepaid plans. Service providers and VARs pay it in advance for defined blocks of airtime minutes with expiration periods in various configurations, ranging from 30 days to two years. These services are then generally sold to subscribers in the form of prepaid scratch cards and e-vouchers that enable subscribers to use its services on a per-minute basis. Its distributors often offer prepaid voice services through fixed devices to subscribers in rural villages, at remote industrial, commercial and residential sites and on ships at sea, among other places.

Iridium PTT Service

The Company's Iridium PTT enables regional PTT calls or global PTT calls among users on the same talkgroup in over 10 locations across the world. Iridium PTT can be used via the Iridium Extreme PTT satellite phone or the Iridium 9523 PTT core transceiver, which gives its VAMs the ability to build Iridium PTT into existing land mobile, maritime and aviation communications equipment. The Company and its partners are also developing solutions for existing terrestrial land mobile radio systems.

Broadband Data Services

The Company's broadband data service, Iridium OpenPort, offers maritime, aviation and terrestrial users' speeds of approximately 135 kilobit per second (kbps) and over three independent voice lines. In conjunction with its distributors, it offers additional services that permit service providers and VARs to offer complete integrated solutions for prepaid calling, e-mail and Internet protocol (IP)-based data communications.

Machine-to-Machine Services

The Company's M2M services are designed to address the market need for sending and receiving data, such as location, from fixed and mobile assets in remote locations to a central monitoring station. The Company's sells M2M services to its distributors, who incorporate them and in turn provide a solution package to commercial and government customers.

Other Services

The Company offers several ancillary services related to its core service offerings, such as inbound connections from the public switched telephone network (PSTN), short message services (SMS), subscriber identity module (SIM), activation, customer reactivation and other peripheral services. The Company also provides research and development services to assist customers in developing new technologies compatible with its system.

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=IRDM.O