- Iridium did direct-to-device satellite phones decades ago
- These days Iridium considers itself an IoT company
- It's tapping into the 3GPP's NB-IoT standard to make space-based IoT connectivity easier than ever
If you asked people at a trivia night who invented low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites, a lot of them might say “Elon Musk.”
Incorrect!
Actually, the first LEO satellites were launched by the U.S. government, starting in the 1950s. And the first commercial LEO satellite operator was Iridium, who’s been using LEO satellites and providing direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity for decades. But it wasn’t until Elon Musk began launching LEOs that they gained wide attention.
Iridium CEO Matt Desch told Fierce, “We were the original gangster, as they say, of LEO, and even, you could say, direct-to-device, because we started with satellite phones."
The company launched LEOs in the late 1990s, using mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum — before any of this was cool.
Back then, “nobody really cared, because, you know, satellite phones and even IoT devices were very niche,” said Desch. “But then along comes OneWeb, and then Starlink, and then sort of a rush now as Telesat and others get into LEO.”
Iridium has also used MSS spectrum in the L and S bands for a long time, and now that’s in vogue, as well.
“So suddenly, we're hot,” said Desch. “But it's like sort of the evolution of the last 20 years I've been here.”
Iridium focuses on space-based IoT
These days, Iridium is primarily an IoT company. Of its 2.5 million subscribers, 2 million of those are IoT devices that track things such as shipping containers, ocean buoys, oil and gas rigs, farm equipment, or even people who use outdoor safety devices from the likes of Garmin.
“Just tons and tons of companies have now embedded us, over 20 years, in so many different applications,” said Desch.
He emphasized something that all the satellite IoT companies seem to be saying these days: That the 3GPP’s narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) standard is really propelling satellite-based IoT.
Unlike the wireless industry, which has adhered to 3GPP standards for decades, companies in the satellite industry have used proprietary systems.
Desch said all the well-known satellite operators — such as Starlink, Eutelsat’s OneWeb, SES/Intelsat, Viasat, GlobalStar and Iridium — have used proprietary systems. Customers must buy a purpose-built device that operates on the particular network.
But recently, satellite operators are making a concerted effort to offer standards-based systems. They’ve joined the GSMA and are making sure their systems support the 3GPP NB-IoT standard, which includes satellite connectivity.
The 3GPP wrote satellite into its Release 17, introducing support for non-terrestrial networks (NTN), enabling messaging, voice and data traffic to be carried over satellite using the same protocols as terrestrial cellular networks. This ensures that chipsets, devices, and networks can interoperate seamlessly.
For its part, Iridium is currently beta testing its standards-based IoT system and plans to offer commercial service later this year under the brand name “Iridium NTN Direct.”
The company is also in the process of creating roaming relationships with wireless operators. It’s already got partnerships with Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone and is speaking with many other mobile network operators (MNOs). “They're very interested in us because our network is 100% global,” Desch said.
Iridium acts as a wholesaler of satellite-based IoT connectivity and sells to MNOs who then offer the service to end customers.
He noted that even though some MNOs have direct-to-device partnerships with satellite operators such Starlink or AST SpaceMobile, they’re still likely to work with Iridium for their IoT services.
The service will be suitable for new companies that want IoT service and for existing customers that want to supplement their IoT coverage in places outside of terrestrial footprints.
Desch said the new service “doesn't really do anything different than our proprietary solution.” But for customers, the cost of the IoT device goes down significantly. And the roaming across different MNOs is also a plus.
He said Iridium is already an IoT leader and “is quite profitable and generating cash.” But the new Iridium NTN Direct has the potential to greatly increase the company’s total addressable market.
Iridium’s satellites
Fierce asked about Iridium’s constellation of 66 LEO satellites. Desch said Iridium has 80 satellites in orbit, with 66 in operation and 14 spares. They're all inter-satellite connected, meaning that every satellite is connected to all the other satellites, creating a mesh network. “So, that's why we're able to cover every part of the planet,” he said.
Independent satellite consultant Carlos Placido said: “Also note they use higher LEO altitudes than Starlink, which coupled with low-look angles allows full coverage.”
Iridium’s LEO constellation was completed in 2019, and the satellites last up to 20 years, or until about 2039.
In terms of IoT, Placido said, “IoT has been a great promise for a long time. The opportunity is large ... millions of devices. And the great promise of companies like Iridium supporting 5G NB-IoT will mean you will not need specialized devices.”