Iridium Certus Distribution Expands with 6 New Service Providers

Iridium Communications announced the next wave of Iridium Certus service providers selected to deliver the satellite broadband solution for land-mobile applications. Globalsat, IEC Telecom, Marlink, McQ, Pivotel and Tesam Argentina will further expand the footprint for Iridium Certus land-mobile services.

The introduction of Iridium Certus and the new Thales Mission terminal is geared for off-the-grid public safety, utility, oil and gas, military and non-government organization applications. Adoption of this technology aims to create globally connected vehicles, allowing drivers and their passengers to be more productive on-the-move.

The solution offers a seamless broadband connectivity experience that can be configured to automatically switch between Iridium Certus or local cellular infrastructure. As a result, organizations are able to maintain capabilities such as real-time vehicle tracking and immediate transmission of telematics information, while supporting internet, phone and email requirements.

Already undergoing live testing, the Thales MissionLink terminal will debut at speeds of 352 kbps, later upgradable to 704 kbps through a firmware update.

With the addition of these six service providers, 12 companies to date have signed on to provide land-mobile-related industries with Iridium Certus service. Previously, six companies were announced, including Applied Satellite Technology Limited (AST), Arion Communication, Kaigai Communication Corporation, MVS USA, Network Innovations, and Spacenet. Iridium plans to announce additional service providers in the coming weeks.

Iridium Certus is enabled by the Iridium Next satellite constellation, which is in the process of replacing the original Iridium network. To date, there have been four successful Iridium Next launches, deploying more than half of the new constellation. Four additional launches are planned for 2018.