Iridium’s satellite network. Photo: Iridium

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded Iridium a contract that will see partner T-Mobile deploy Iridium PNT services across 5G network sites in the U.S. 

The award Iridium announced Tuesday is for the DoT’s Complementary Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (CPNT) Action Plan Rapid Phase Award II. The CPNT Action Plan is focused on assessing commercial complementary PNT services to deal with GPS disruptions, and to drive adoption of CPNT options in the U.S. transportation system and other critical infrastructure sectors like 5G networks. 

Under this contract, T-Mobile will expand installation of Iridium PNT to 90 additional live 5G network sites. Iridium said its PNT service will help protect against GPS disruptions that cause downtime and “compromise the data integrity and performance of 5G networks.” 

Iridium has an alternative PNT solution that transmits PNT signals from its Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network. Last year Iridium acquired Satelles which offered the PNT service and integrated it into its own offerings. The company says its alternative PNT solution has signals 1,000 times stronger than the GPS system. 

“It is essential for the U.S. to strengthen the resilience of our 5G wireless networks and other critical infrastructure that relies on PNT,” said Dr. Michael O’Connor, executive vice president, PNT, Iridium. “Our partnership with an industry-leading company like T-Mobile underscores the proven performance of our solution and reinforces why it’s the gold standard for PNT services like timing synchronization.”

The DoT issued five awards in total to Iridium, the National Association of Broadcasters, UrsaNav, Viavi Solutions, and MerlinTPS Corp. Iridium’s contract is worth about $1.5 million, according to a notice posted to Sam.gov.