Iridium Completes Satelles Acquisition and Introduces Iridium Satellite Time and Location (STL)

Rendering of Iridium’s constellation. Photo: Iridium

Iridium completed its acquisition of long-time partner Satelles and integrated the company’s Satellite Time and Location (STL) service. Iridium announced the completion of the company’s first-ever acquisition on April 2. Iridium first announced the acquisition in March. 

Satelles’ service, now referred to as Iridium STL, secures GPS and other GNSS-reliant systems from spoofing and jamming, using hardware that doesn’t require outdoor antennas. The solution aims to secure infrastructure, data centers, 5G base stations, and applications across the aviation, maritime, land mobile, and IoT sectors.

“We’re ready to step on the gas and expand the availability of Iridium STL to markets around the world. With our experienced partner ecosystem and global footprint, this needed capability can quickly help make the critical services we all rely on every day more efficient, reliable and secure,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. 

Desch said in March that one benefit to the acquisition is that Satelles is already familiar with many of Iridium’s existing partners.

Iridium expects to generate over $100 million in service revenues per year from the STL business line by 2030, with additional revenue from equipment and engineering.