Iridium, which is competing for a share of the D2D market with many players including SpaceX/Starlink, suffered a setback when its contract with Qualcomm fell through in 2023. The collapse affected the perception of Iridium as a significant player in the D2D market.
Iridium isn’t the first company that comes to mind when it comes to the direct-to-device (D2D) space — SpaceX/Starlink, AST SpaceMobile, Lync Global, OneWeb, etc. spring to mind — but the company has enough experience to earn a place in the space.
Perhaps more accurately, Iridium is looking to take a seat at the table, as Brian Hartin, vice president of sales and marketing at Iridium, told Fierce Network about the company’s challenges and goals.
None of these companies are in lockstep with Apple and Globalstar, which were the first to offer Emergency SOS services on the iPhone 14 in 2022. All are still competing to be the top terrestrial and satellite communications provider.
Where is Iridium in D2D?
After Apple launched its iOS emergency services powered by Globalstar with much fanfare, the Android segment was largely left behind while searching for its own answer to the D2D market.
Iridium partnered with Qualcomm to provide a proprietary solution for Android OEMs, and if that had happened in its natural course, Iridium would probably be enjoying the benefits of its work today in Samsung’s latest gadgets. But that didn’t happen: Android OEMs decided they didn’t need the proprietary solution Iridium was pitching them.
“We pivoted and said, OK, we’ve got the network. We just need to spend time with standards bodies and develop that capability,” Hartin said.
Since then, Iridium has been working with 3GPP to develop a standards-based solution. Iridium’s effort, called Project Stardust, was announced at CES in January 2024.
“Right now we’re building towards the standard and we’re targeting Release 19, which should put us in 2026 to be able to deliver this,” Hartin said.
Being compared to a company like Starlink, which still needs to launch a lot of satellite infrastructure into space, is a positive for Iridium, Hartin added.
Iridium’s low earth orbit (LEO) constellation consists of 66 satellites and 14 spare satellites.
Iridium has been around for more than 20 years as a company. “We do the heavy lifting,” he says. “We can add this functionality to our network, but we’re accused of being boring because we don’t need to inject a lot of capital to build a whole new network. That’s one of our strengths. Plus, we have more than 25 years of satellite experience that a lot of other companies don’t have.”
AST Space Mobile recently reported that Verizon has invested $100 million in the company, in addition to AT&T’s backing. Some analysts have suggested that Verizon, which has previously been reluctant to invest in D2D, may have made this modest investment to prevent Starlink from entering the market. Starlink is, of course, backed by T-Mobile, which plans to launch commercial D2D service this year.
Iridium currently does not have the support of one or more U.S. carriers, but Hartin said that doesn’t put the company at a disadvantage. He said Iridium is in negotiations with all carriers and operating system providers.
To be sure, AT&T and Verizon are taking a gamble. “With us, they don’t have to,” he said.
“These startups have a lot of promises and big ideas… but that’s the big difference between them and us: we’re there. We’re adding capabilities to an already trusted network. They have to build it from the ground up,” he said.
Iridium Recognition Issue
Still, Iridium has a perception problem: The collapse of the Qualcomm deal in 2023 has created the impression that Iridium is lagging behind competitors that are deploying new LEO constellations, said CCS Insight analyst Luke Peace.
Competitors include not only new entrants like SpaceX/Starlink and AST SpaceMobile, but also recently merged and revitalized companies like Inmarsat/ViaSat and SES/Intelsat, which are investing heavily in their existing and new satellite constellations, he said.
“Despite these challenges, Iridium’s network should not be ignored. It is a proven, reliable and truly global network that has generated double-digit revenue and subscriber growth, particularly in the IoT space, making Iridium a market leader in the space. This contrasts with venture capital-backed startups whose technology and business models are not yet proven and who face significant investment and regulatory hurdles,” Pierce said.
The 3GPP route means an ecosystem needs to be cultivated that includes devices, chipsets, mobile network operators and applications — no easy feat, and Iridium is notably not among groups working toward this goal, such as the Mobile Satellite Services Association, he said.
Another example is Intelsat’s Ku-band project, which Pierce said recently garnered support from 35 companies and 3GPP community members, including other satellite operators, terrestrial vendors and MNOs.
“Iridium is likely to continue with its 3GPP-led D2D strategy as part of its business, but we believe the focus will be on leveraging this for its IoT business rather than targeting smartphones,” Hartin concluded.
