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Item 1. Business

2025-02-13 compared with 2024-02-15 · 152 added, 149 removed, 620 unchanged (33% of the section changed)

Corporate Background

Iridium Communications Inc.

(“we,” “us,” or “Iridium”) was formed as GHL Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in November 2007, for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination.

On February 21, 2008, we consummated our initial public offering.

On September 29, 2009, we acquired, directly and indirectly, all the outstanding equity of Iridium Holdings LLC, or Iridium Holdings, and changed our name from GHL Acquisition Corp.

to Iridium Communications Inc.

Iridium Holdings was formed under the laws of Delaware in 2000, and on December 11, 2000, Iridium Holdings, through its wholly owned subsidiary Iridium Satellite LLC, or Iridium Satellite, acquired certain satellite assets from Iridium LLC, a non-affiliated debtor in possession, pursuant to an asset purchase agreement.

Business Overview

We are the only commercial provider of communications services offering true global coverage, connecting people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time.

Iridium Communications Inc.

(“we,” “us,” or “Iridium”) is the only commercial provider of communications services offering true global coverage, connecting people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time.

Our low-earth orbit (LEO), L-band network provides reliable, weather-resilient communications services to regions of the world where terrestrial wireless or wireline networks do not exist or are limited, including remote land areas, open ocean, airways, the polar regions, and regions where the telecommunications infrastructure has been affected by political conflicts or natural disasters.

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The current Iridium ® constellation was completed in 2019, fully replacing our first-generation system.

In addition to supporting new products with higher data speeds, it also hosts the Aireon ® system, which provides a global air traffic surveillance service through a series of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, or ADS-B, receivers on our satellites.

In addition to supporting new products with higher data speeds, it hosts the Aireon ® system, which provides a global air traffic surveillance service through a series of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, or ADS-B, receivers on our satellites.

We formed Aireon LLC in 2011, with subsequent investments from several air navigation service providers, or ANSPs, to develop and market this service.

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Aireon has also contracted to pay us a fee to host the ADS-B receivers on our satellites, as well as data service fees for the delivery of the air traffic surveillance data over the Iridium system.

In addition, we have entered into an agreement with L3Harris Technologies, Inc., or L3Harris, the manufacturer of the Aireon hosted payload, pursuant to which L3Harris pays us fees to allocate the remaining hosted payload capacity to its customers and data service fees on behalf of these customers.

In addition, we have an agreement with L3Harris Technologies, Inc., or L3Harris, the manufacturer of the Aireon hosted payload, pursuant to which L3Harris pays us fees to allocate the remaining hosted payload capacity to its customers and data service fees on behalf of these customers.

Our commercial business, which we view as our primary source of long-term growth, is diverse and serves markets such as emergency services, maritime, aviation, government, utilities, oil and gas, mining, recreation, forestry, heavy equipment, construction, railways and other transportation.

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Ship crews and passengers use our services for ship-to-shore calling, as well as to send and receive email and data files, and to receive electronic media, weather reports, emergency bulletins and electronic charts.

Shipping operators use our services to manage operations on board ships and to transmit data, such as course, speed, fuel, weather and other navigation service data.

Shipping operators use our services to manage operations on board ships and to transmit data, such as course, speed, fuel, weather and other navigation service data, as well as for emergency services, as one of only two networks currently approved to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) services.

Aviation end users use our services for air-to-ground telephony and data communications for position reporting, flight following, emergency tracking, weather information, electronic flight bag updates, and airline operational communications.

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We have also seen growing adoption of our services to support autonomous systems, for which Iridium is used for command and control, image transmission and environmental data gathering via unmanned aerial, underwater and surface vehicles.

Iridium Certus ® provides a platform for our partners to develop specialized broadband and midband (a term we use to describe services between our legacy 2.4 Kbps narrowband and

our 128 Kbps and higher broadband offerings) applications on our network.

With broadband services provided for the maritime and land-mobile industries and a midband service designed for maximum mobility, Iridium Certus offers the flexibility to scale device speeds, sizes and power requirements both up and down based on the needs of the end-user.

Iridium Certus ® provides a platform for our partners to develop specialized broadband and midband (a term we use to describe services between our legacy 2.4 Kbps narrowband and our 128 Kbps and higher broadband offerings) applications on our network.

In 2024, we introduced additional Iridium Certus offerings that enable IoT applications to send more data, with greater security and natively delivered via cloud infrastructure.

With broadband services provided for the maritime, land-mobile and aviation industries and a midband service designed for maximum mobility, Iridium Certus offers the flexibility to scale device speeds, sizes and power requirements both up and down based on the needs of the end-user.

We expect that these and future Iridium Certus service offerings will continue to drive growth opportunities in our commercial business.

In 2024, we acquired Satelles, Inc., a provider of highly secure, satellite-based position, navigation and timing (PNT) services that complement and protect GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite System, or GNSS, reliant systems.

Time synchronization and location data play an important role in the global economy, particularly for major industries supported by critical infrastructure, such as financial services, telecommunications, cyber-security and transportation.

We believe the

acquisition of Satelles’s business could generate substantial growth in our service revenue, as well as incremental equipment and engineering services revenue over the coming years from both government and commercial customers.

government, directly and indirectly, has been and continues to be our largest single customer, generating $223.3 million in service and engineering and support service revenue, or 27% of our total revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2024.

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government agencies that are provided through our commercial gateway, as we lack specific visibility into these activities and the related revenue.

We operate under a multi-year, fixed-price contract with the U.S.

We operate primarily under a multi-year, fixed-price contract with the U.S.

government, which we refer to as our Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services, or EMSS, contract to provide specified satellite airtime services for an unlimited number of U.S.

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The EMSS contract, entered into in September 2019, has a total value of $738.5 million over its seven-year term, through September 2026, with annual revenues between $100 million and $110.5 million over the term.

We may provide other services, such as Iridium Certus, to the U.S.

We provide other services, such as Iridium Certus, to the U.S.

government under separate arrangements for an additional fee.

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We expect that demand for our services will increase as more applications are developed and deployed that utilize our technology.

At December 31, 2023, we had approximately 2,279,000 billable subscribers worldwide, representing a 14% increase compared to December 31, 2022.

At December 31, 2024, we had approximately 2,460,000 billable subscribers worldwide, representing an 8% increase compared to December 31, 2023.

Total revenue increased from $790.7 million in 2023 to $830.7 million in 2024, representing a 5% increase.

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Government organizations, including military and disaster response agencies, non-governmental organizations, and industrial operations and support teams depend on mobile and fixed voice and data satellite communications services on a regular basis.

Businesses with global operations require reliable communications services when operating in remote locations around the world.

Businesses with global operations require reliable communications services when operating in remote locations around the

Mobile satellite services users span many sectors, including emergency services, maritime, aviation, government, utilities, oil and gas, mining, recreation, forestry, heavy equipment, construction, railways and other transportation, among others.

Many of our customers view satellite communications services as critical to their daily operations.

We believe that increasing mobile penetration creates additional demand for mobile satellite services.

According to a 2023 study by the GSM Association, unique mobile subscribers, excluding cellular Internet of Things, or IoT, reached 5.4 billion throughout the world as of the end of 2022 and are projected to reach 6.3 billion by 2030.

We believe that growth in the terrestrial wireless industry has increased awareness of the need for reliable mobile voice and data communications services.

We believe that growth in the terrestrial wireless industry has increased awareness of the need and higher expectations for reliable mobile voice and data communications services.

In addition, despite significant penetration and competition, terrestrial wireless systems do not cover a large majority of the earth’s surface and are focused mainly in those areas where people live, excluding oceans and other remote regions where ships, airplanes and other remote assets may be.

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Communications industry sectors include:

• mobile satellite services, which provide customers with voice and data connectivity to mobile and fixed devices using ground facilities and networks of geostationary, or GEO, satellites, which are located approximately 22,300 miles above the equator, medium earth orbit satellites, which orbit between approximately 6,400 and 10,000 miles above the earth’s surface, or low earth orbit, or LEO, satellites, such as those in our constellation, which orbit between approximately 300 and 1,000 miles above the earth’s surface;

• fixed satellite services, which typically use GEO satellites to provide customers with broadband communications links between fixed points on the earth’s surface;

• mobile satellite services, which provide customers with voice and data connectivity to mobile and fixed devices using ground facilities and networks of geostationary, or GEO, satellites operating in licensed L-band or S-band frequencies, which are located approximately 22,300 miles above the equator, medium earth orbit satellites, which orbit between approximately 6,400 and 10,000 miles above the earth’s surface, or low earth orbit, or LEO, satellites, such as those in our constellation, which orbit between approximately 300 and 1,000 miles above the earth’s surface;

• very small aperture terminal, or VSAT, satellite services (previously referred to as fixed satellite services), which typically use GEO or LEO satellites operating in licensed Ka-band or Ku-band frequencies to provide customers with broadband communications links between fixed or moving points on or above the earth’s surface;

• terrestrial services, which use a network of land-based equipment, including switching centers and radio base stations, to provide wireless or wireline connectivity and are complementary to satellite services.

Within the two major satellite sectors, fixed satellite services and mobile satellite services, the products that operators offer differ significantly from each other with respect to size of antenna and types of services that the products can offer.

Fixed satellite services providers, such as Intelsat S.A., Eutelsat Communications S.A.

and SES S.A., are characterized by large, often stationary or fixed ground terminals that send and receive high-bandwidth signals to and from the satellite network for video and high-speed data customers and international telephone markets.

Within the two major satellite sectors, VSAT services and mobile satellite services, the products that operators offer differ from each other with respect to size of antenna and types of services that the products can offer.

VSAT services providers, such as Intelsat S.A., Eutelsat Communications S.A.

and SES S.A., are characterized by large, often stationary ground terminals that send and receive high-bandwidth signals to and from the satellite network for video and high-speed data customers and international telephone markets.

Primary offerings by newer entrants, such as Space Exploration Technology Corp.’s, or SpaceX, Starlink and OneWeb Holdings Limited, are based on a LEO network, but due to their K-band higher-broadband offerings, they are more similar to VSAT services requiring larger-antennas and power.

By contrast, mobile satellite services providers, such as us, focus more on voice and data services, where mobility and small-sized terminals are essential.

Other mobile satellite service providers include Globalstar, Inc., ORBCOMM Inc., and in some portions of their businesses, Viasat Inc.

(following its acquisition of Inmarsat Global Limited) and new entrants such as Space Exploration Technology Corp.’s (SpaceX) Starlink and OneWeb Holdings Limited.

LEO systems, such as the one we operate, generally have lower transmission delays, or latency, than GEO systems, due to the shorter distance signals have to travel, which also enables the use of smaller antennas on mobile devices.

Our L-band spectrum is also more resistant to weather interference than the K-band spectrum used by new entrants such as Starlink and OneWeb.

Other mobile satellite service providers include Globalstar, Inc., ORBCOMM Inc., portions of Viasat Inc.’s businesses (following its acquisition of Inmarsat Global Limited) and Starlink in limited areas with their direct-to-device offering utilizing terrestrial cellular frequencies that extend cellular coverage within defined markets.

LEO systems, such as the one we operate, generally have lower transmission delays, or latency, than GEO systems, due to the shorter distance signals have to travel.

Additionally, our L-band solutions enable the use of smaller antennas on mobile devices.

Our L-band spectrum is also more resistant to weather interference than the K-band spectrum used by VSAT providers such as Starlink and OneWeb.

We believe the unique interlinked mesh architecture of our constellation, combined with the global footprint of our satellites, distinguishes us from regional LEO satellite operators such as Globalstar and ORBCOMM, by allowing us to route voice and data transmissions to and from anywhere on the earth’s surface without the need for local ground infrastructure.

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• Our Constellation.

Our unique satellite constellation provides true global and weather-resilient coverage, which enables our Iridium Certus platform offerings and empowers the development of a range of new global products and services, as well as supporting Aireon’s aircraft tracking service and other hosted payload missions.

design of 66 operational satellites uses an interlinked mesh architecture to transmit signals from satellite to satellite, which reduces the need for multiple local ground stations around the world and facilitates the global reach of our services.

Many of our competitors use GEO satellites, which orbit above the earth’s equator, limiting their visibility to far northern or southern latitudes and polar regions.

Some LEO satellites without crosslink architecture from operators like Globalstar and ORBCOMM use an architecture commonly referred to as “bent pipe,” which requires voice and data transmissions to be immediately routed to ground stations in the same region as the satellite and can only provide real-time service when they are within view of a ground station, limiting coverage to areas near where they have been able to license and locate ground infrastructure.

Our unique satellite constellation provides true global and weather-resilient coverage, which enables our wide range of service offerings and empowers the development of new global products and services, as well as supporting Aireon’s aircraft tracking service and other hosted payload missions.

Our network design of 66 operational satellites uses an interlinked mesh architecture to transmit signals from satellite to satellite, which reduces the need for multiple local ground stations around the world, facilitates the global reach of our services, and increases

network redundancy.

Some of our competitors use GEO satellites, which orbit above the earth’s equator, limiting their visibility to far northern or southern latitudes and polar regions.

LEO satellites without a crosslink architecture from operators like Globalstar and ORBCOMM use an architecture commonly referred to as “bent pipe,” which requires voice and data transmissions to be immediately routed to ground stations in the same region as the satellite and can only provide real-time service when they are within view of a ground station, limiting coverage to areas near where they have been able to license and locate ground infrastructure.

The LEO design of our satellite constellation produces minimal voice and data transmission delays compared to GEO systems due to the shorter distance our signals have to travel, and LEO systems typically have smaller antenna and power requirements.

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• Attractive and growing markets.

We believe that mobile satellite services will continue to experience growth driven by the increasing awareness of the need for reliable mobile voice and data communications services, the lack of coverage of most of the earth’s surface by terrestrial wireless systems, the continued development of the IoT, and the continued development of other innovative, lower-cost technology, such as applications integrating mobile satellite products and services into other devices, including embedding standards-based satellite technology in smartphones and IoT devices.

We believe that mobile satellite services will continue to experience growth driven by the increasing public expectations for reliable mobile voice and data communications services, the lack of coverage of most of the earth’s surface by terrestrial wireless systems, the continued development of the IoT, and the continued development of other innovative, lower-cost technology, such as applications integrating mobile satellite products and services into other devices, including embedding standards-based satellite technology in smartphones and IoT devices.

Only satellite providers can offer global coverage, and developing a satellite network requires significant financial investment, as well as technological and regulatory challenges.

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We believe the U.S.

government views our encrypted handset, IoT devices, DTCS and other products as mission-critical services and equipment.

government views our encrypted handset, IoT devices, tactical radio services and other products as mission-critical services and equipment.

government continues to make significant investments in a dedicated gateway on a U.S.

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• Leverage our largely fixed-cost infrastructure to grow our service revenue .

Our business model is characterized by high capital costs, primarily incurred every 10 to 15 years, in connection with designing, building and launching new generations of our satellite constellation, and a low incremental cost of providing service to additional end users.

Our business model is characterized by periodic higher capital costs in connection with designing, building and launching new generations of our satellites to support our 15-20 year constellation operational cycles, and a low incremental cost of providing service to additional end users.

We are currently in a period of lower capital expense, which we expect to continue until at least 2031.

We believe that service revenue will continue to be our largest source of future growth and profits, and we intend to focus on growing both our commercial and government service revenue in order to leverage our largely fixed-cost infrastructure.

In particular, we believe that competitive broadband, midband and narrowband data services through Iridium Certus and satellite IoT services, where we are engaging large, global enterprises as long-term customers for data and telematics solutions, represent our greatest opportunities for service revenue growth.

In particular, we believe that broadband, midband and narrowband data services through Iridium Certus, resilient PNT services, and satellite IoT services, where we are engaging large, global enterprises as long-term customers for data and telematics solutions, represent our greatest opportunities for service revenue growth.

• Expand our target markets through the development of new products and services.

We believe that we can expand our target markets by developing and offering a broader range of products and services, including a wider array of cost-effective and competitive broadband, midband, safety services, and IoT data services using our proprietary Iridium Certus technology to complement and expand on our legacy narrowband services.

We believe that we can expand our target markets by developing and offering a broader range of products and services, including a wider array of cost-

effective and competitive broadband, midband, safety services, and IoT data services using our proprietary Iridium Certus technology to complement and expand on our legacy narrowband services.

Iridium Certus is a multi-service technology platform that can deliver a range of services, from voice to a high-throughput L-band data connection, at a range of competitive price points, data speeds, and terminal dimensions to meet an expanding set of customer requirements.

Beyond Iridium Certus technology, we also plan to expand our target markets by adding in a standards-based IoT solution.

For example, during 2024, we announced Project Stardust, which is what we call our new, multi-year project to develop standards-based Narrowband-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and Non-Terrestrial Network (NB-NTN) messaging and SOS capabilities for smartphones, tablets, cars and related consumer applications.

Beyond Iridium Certus technology, we also plan to expand our target markets by adding a standards-based IoT solution.

Specifically, during 2024, we announced that the 3GPP, the partnership through which the national standards development organizations create technical specifications for mobile networks, accepted our request to extend the functionality of Narrowband Internet of Things, or NB-IoT, for Non-Terrestrial Networks, or NTN, to include Iridium frequencies and technology requirements in its next release.

This will pave the way for Iridium’s satellite service to be accessible via industry standard chipsets, furthering our progress in developing and deploying our newest service, Iridium NTN Direct SM , over the Iridium network.

Also in 2024, through our acquisition of Satelles, we now offer highly secure satellite-based time and location services that complement and protect GPS and other GNSS-reliant systems, which we expect to be a source of significant revenue growth in the future.

• Accelerate the development of personal communications capabilities .

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• Continued growth in services provided to the U.S.

Under our EMSS contract, we provide Iridium airtime services, including unlimited global standard and secure voice, paging, fax, Short Burst Data ® , or SBD ® , Iridium Burst ® , Router-Based Unrestricted Digital Interworking Connectivity Solutions (or RUDICs) and DTCS services for an unlimited number of DoD and other federal government subscribers.

The fixed-price annual rate of the EMSS contract through September 2024 is $106 million, with increases thereafter up to $110.5 million for the final contract year ending in September 2026.

Other services such as Iridium Certus and Satellite Time and Location provide us with opportunities to offer new products and services to the U.S.

Under our EMSS contract, we provide Iridium airtime services, including unlimited global standard and secure voice, paging, fax, Short Burst Data ® , or SBD ® , Iridium Burst ® , Router-Based Unrestricted Digital Interworking Connectivity Solutions (RUDICs) and DTCS services for an unlimited number of DoD and other federal government subscribers.

The fixed-price annual rate of the EMSS contract through September 2025 is $107 million, with one increase thereafter up to $110.5 million for the final contract year ending in September 2026.

Other services such as Iridium Certus and PNT provide us with opportunities to offer new products and services to the U.S.

government for an additional fee.

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These distributors sell our products and services to end users, either directly or indirectly through service providers, VARs or dealers.

Of these distributors, over 53 sell primarily to U.S.

Of these distributors, approximately 56 sell primarily to U.S.

and international government customers.

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We provide our distributors with support services, including assistance with coordinating end user sales and marketing, strategic planning and training, and second-tier customer support, as well as helping them market our products and services and respond to new business opportunities.

We have representatives covering three regions around the world to better manage our distributor relationships:

We have representatives covering three regions around the world to better manage our

distributor relationships:

the Americas, which includes North, South and Central America;

Asia Pacific, which includes Australia and Asia;

and Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia.

We have also established a global service program to

provide portside service for our maritime customers at major ports worldwide.

and Europe, which includes the Middle East, Africa and Russia.

We have also established a global service program to provide portside service for our maritime customers at major ports worldwide.

In addition, we maintain various online management tools that allow us to communicate efficiently with our distributors and allow them to manage their customers’ Iridium devices from anywhere in the world.

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and foreign government agencies.

Our service providers include satellite service providers such as Marlink AS, Applied Satellite Technology Limited and Network Innovations, as well as some of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, including Telstra Limited, KDDI Corporation and Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel).

Our VARs include ARINC Incorporated, Beam Communications Pty Ltd., Blue Sky Network, LLC, Garmin Services Inc., Garmin International Inc., Gogo Business Aviation LLC, Komatsu Ltd, Kore Telematics Inc., MetOcean Telematics Limited, NAL Research Corporation, and Zunibal S.A.

Our VARs include ARINC Incorporated, Beam Communications Pty Ltd., Garmin Services Inc., Garmin International Inc., Gogo Business Aviation LLC, Komatsu Ltd, Kore Telematics Inc., MetOcean Telematics Limited, NAL Research Corporation, and Zunibal S.A.

We also sell our products to VAMs, who integrate our transceivers or chipsets into their proprietary hardware.

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As with our service providers and VARs, VAMs sell their products either directly or through other distributors, including some of our service providers and VARs.

Our VAMs include Calamp Wireless Networks Corporation, Garmin Services Inc., Jacobs Technology, Inc., and Lars Thrane A/S.

Our VAMs include Intellian, Thales, Calamp Wireless Networks Corporation, Garmin Services Inc., Jacobs Technology, Inc., and Lars Thrane A/S.

In addition to VARs and VAMs, we maintain relationships with approximately 90 value-added developers, or VADs.

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Other services may be purchased at an additional cost.

The fixed-price rate for the current year of the EMSS contract is $106 million, with increases in annual value resulting in a total contract value of $738.5 million over the seven-year term.

The total contract value of EMSS is $738.5 million over the seven-year term.

The fixed-price annual rate of the EMSS contract through September 2025 is $107 million, with one increase thereafter up to $110.5 million for the final contract year ending in September 2026.

While we sell airtime directly to the U.S.

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government customers through our network of distributors, who typically integrate them with other products and technologies.

We may provide other services, such as Iridium Certus, to the U.S.

We may provide other services, such as Iridium Certus or Iridium PNT, to the U.S.

government under separate arrangements for an additional fee.

We also provide maintenance services for the U.S.

government gateway pursuant to our Gateway Maintenance and Support Services, or GMSS, contract managed by the U.S.

This agreement, which became effective in April 2019, has a total contract value to us of approximately $60.4 million.

The GMSS contract has been extended through March 31, 2024, as we negotiate a renewal of the agreement.

government gateway pursuant to our EMSS capabilities and security sustainment services, or ECS3, contract managed by the U.S.

Space Force, which replaced our previous Gateway Maintenance and Support Services, or GMSS, contract.

The ECS3 agreement, which we entered into in March 2024, has a total contract value to us of approximately $94 million, with a potential total value of $103 million, based on future surge requirements.

The ECS3 contract has a base term running through March 31, 2025, with four one-year U.S.

government extension options.

In September 2019, we were also awarded a five-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity gateway evolution contract managed by the U.S.

Space Force to enable ongoing innovation and enhancements for the U.S.

government gateway.

This contract has a total contract value to us of $76 million.

We expect to renew this agreement prior to its expiration in September 2024.

In May 2022, the SDA awarded General Dynamics Mission Systems, with Iridium as a subcontractor, the SDA contract, to establish the ground Operations and Integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the PWSA.

The SDA contract has an estimated value of $324.5 million, which includes a $163 million base amount and $161.5 million in options.

We expect to receive $202 million in revenue over the course of the contract’s seven-year term.

Revenues from the SDA contract contributed to our higher engineering and support service revenue in 2023, as well as associated expenses, compared to the prior year, and we expect that higher level of revenues and expenses to continue throughout the life of the SDA contract.

government gateway, which was subsequently extended through March 2025.

This contract had a total contract value to us of up to $76 million.

We expect to renew this agreement prior to its expiration in March 2025.

In May 2022, the SDA awarded General Dynamics Mission Systems, with Iridium as a subcontractor, the SDA contract, to establish the ground Operations and Integration, or O&I, segment for Tranche 1 of the U.S DoD’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture or PWSA.

In July 2024, the General Dynamics/Iridium team received a contract modification of $491.6 million for the Ground Management and Integration (GMI) program.

Of this amount, Iridium’s share has a value of $240 million over five years.

Revenues from the SDA contract contributed to our higher engineering and support service revenue in 2023 and 2024, as well as associated expenses, compared to the prior years, and we expect that higher level of revenues and expenses to continue throughout the life of the SDA contract.

government services, including engineering services, accounted for approximately 27% of our total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024.

Our reported U.S.

government revenue includes airtime revenue derived from the EMSS contract and services provided through the GMSS contract, the gateway evolution contract, and other engineering and support contracts with the U.S.

government revenue includes airtime revenue derived from the EMSS contract and services provided through the GMSS and ECS3 contracts, the gateway evolution contract, and other engineering and support contracts with the U.S.

government, primarily the SDA contract.

Pursuant to federal acquisition regulations, the U.S.

government may terminate the EMSS, GMSS, gateway evolution, or SDA contracts, in whole or in part, at any time.

government may terminate the EMSS, ECS3, gateway evolution, or SDA contracts, in whole or in part, at any time.

Our government revenue does not include airtime services purchased by U.S.

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In many cases, our service is the only connectivity for these critical applications or is used to complement terrestrial communications solutions.

Our current principal vertical lines of business include land mobile, maritime, aviation, IoT, hosted payloads and other data services, and U.S.

Our current principal vertical lines of business include land mobile, maritime, aviation, IoT, hosted payloads and other data services, which includes PNT, and U.S.

We report commercial voice and data service, IoT data service, commercial broadband, hosted payload and other data service, and government service revenue separately.

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In addition, we believe Iridium Certus broadband land mobile units are attractive in this market, as the combination of price, speeds, equipment, reliability in various weather conditions, and durability of equipment addresses a distinct market need.

We also expect Iridium Certus midband products and services, such as our new Iridium GO!

exec device, to be a source of revenue growth in the coming years.

We also expect Iridium Certus midband products and services to be a source of revenue growth in the coming years.

Our land mobile end users utilize our satellite communications services for:

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Iridium PTT offers non-governmental organizations (NGOs), military, first responder, oil and gas, civil government and other users the ability to hold group calls using the Iridium Extreme ® PTT handset or other devices developed by our VAMs and VARs using the Iridium 9523 PTT core transceiver.

The Thales MissionLINK terminal, the first Iridium Certus offering in the land mobile area, allows rapid deployment and on-the-move communications, location tracking and telemetry.

In 2022 and 2023, several VAMs introduced products supporting midband capabilities for land-based applications including remote monitoring, business continuity, and fleet management.

The Thales MissionLINK terminal, the first Iridium Certus broadband offering in the land mobile area, allows rapid deployment and on-the-move communications, location tracking, and automatic WAN failover for added reliability.

• Mobile and remote office connectivity :

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• Public safety and disaster relief :

Relief agencies, such as FEMA, and other agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, use our products and services in their emergency response plans, particularly in the aftermath of natural disasters such as the California and Maui wildfires in 2023, the volcanic eruption in Tonga in 2022, Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022, and earthquakes in Haiti in 2021 and the Mexico City area in 2017.

Relief agencies, such as FEMA, and other agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, use our products and services in their emergency response plans, particularly in the aftermath of natural disasters such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 and the California and Maui wildfires in 2023.

These agencies generate significant demand for both our voice and data products, especially in advance of the hurricane season in North America.

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We believe Iridium Certus, which offers data speeds of up to 704 Kbps, presents a compelling communication solution for L-band users in the maritime market.

Iridium Certus has been increasingly installed on oceangoing vessels as a companion to Ku-band Very Small Aperture Terminal, or VSAT, and new Non-Geostationary Orbit, or NGSO, providers, and we have seen lower usage levels of those other providers on some vessels where we had previously been used as the primary communications service.

We expect additional offerings, such as the Iridium Certus 200 service, to increase the addressable market for our maritime services.

Iridium Certus has been increasingly installed on oceangoing vessels as a companion to broadband services offered by geostationary orbit (VSAT connections) and non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) providers and we have seen lower usage levels on some vessels where we had previously been used as the primary communications service.

We expect additional offerings, such as Iridium Certus GMDSS services, to continue to increase the addressable market for our maritime services.

Maritime end users utilize our satellite communications services for the following:

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Our distribution partners have developed several product solutions using our network to meet these requirements for merchant and fishing vessels.

In addition, we have been recognized by the IMO as a provider for the GMDSS.

In addition, we have been recognized by the IMO as one of only two providers for the GMDSS.

The GMDSS is a maritime service built to alert a maritime rescue coordination center of each vessel’s situation and position, information that can then be used to coordinate search and rescue efforts among ships in the area.

As part of the GMDSS service, navigational and meteorological information

is distributed to vessels.

As part of the GMDSS service, navigational and meteorological information is distributed to vessels.

The IMO requires all vessels flagged by signatories to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, over 300 gross tons and certain passenger vessels, irrespective of size, that travel in international waters to carry distress and safety terminals that provide GMDSS services.

GMDSS service using our network became available in 2020, and our partners offer maritime terminals that include GMDSS service capabilities to vessel operators.

GMDSS service using our

network became available in 2020, and our partners offer maritime terminals that include GMDSS service capabilities to vessel operators.

In 2024, we announced GMDSS over Iridium Certus, adding Iridium GMDSS, as well as LRIT and SSAS, to the robust communication and safety capabilities of Iridium Certus.

We are one of the leading providers of mobile satellite communications services to the aviation sector, and we continue to see aviation as an area of potential revenue growth.

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We provide critical communications applications for numerous airlines and air transport customers, including Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines, UPS, FedEx, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Iceland Airlines, and El Al Airlines.

These operators rely on our services because other forms of communication may be unaffordable or unreliable in areas such as the polar regions.

Collins Aerospace (ARINC) and SITA, the two leading providers of voice and data link communications services and applications to the commercial airline industry, integrate our products and services into their offerings.

These operators rely on our services because other forms of communication may be unaffordable or unreliable in areas such as oceanic, remote and polar regions.

Collins Aerospace (ARINC) and SITA, the two leading providers of voice and data link communications services and applications to the commercial airline industry rely on our products and services to deliver safe, reliable services to global operators.

• Aviation passenger communications :

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We expect that users in the corporate aviation market, and original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, for business jets, will increase adoption of our services for in-flight passenger data communications using our network.

We believe this presents a significant opportunity to increase market penetration and revenues in this market.

• Rotary and general aviation applications :

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Companies such as Air Logistics, EagleMed and Air Evac Lifeteam rely on applications from our distributors for traditional voice communications, fleet tracking and management, and real-time flight diagnostics.

VARs and VAMs such as Flightcell International Limited, Garmin

Services Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., SkyTrac Systems Limited, and Spider Tracks Limited incorporate Iridium products and services into their applications for these markets.

VARs and VAMs such as Flightcell International Limited, Garmin Services Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., SkyTrac Systems Limited, and Spider Tracks Limited incorporate Iridium products and services into their applications for these markets.

• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) :

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We believe the benefits of Iridium Certus enhance our ability to address aviation market needs across these sectors.

In addition, in 2024, our aviation safety services offering received ISO 27001:2022 certification, an internationally recognized standard for information security management systems, enhancing our commitment to aviation safety.

Commercial IoT Data

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We believe this market continues to experience increasing penetration and presents opportunities for future growth.

As with land mobile, our largest IoT users include mining, construction, oil and gas, utilities, heavy industry, maritime, forestry and transport companies, as well as the military, public safety and disaster relief agencies.

As with land mobile, our largest IoT users include mining, construction, recreation, oil and gas, utilities, heavy industry, maritime, forestry and transport companies, as well as the military, public safety and disaster relief agencies.

We believe increasing demand for automated data collection processes from mobile and remote assets operating outside the coverage of terrestrial wireline and wireless networks, as well as the continued need to integrate the operation of such assets into enterprise management and information technology systems, will likewise increase demand for our IoT applications.

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Large, global heavy equipment original equipment manufacturers, such as Caterpillar Inc., Komatsu Ltd, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co.

Ltd., Hyundai Doosan Infracore Co.

LTD and Appareo Systems LLC, use our global IoT services to monitor their off-road heavy equipment in markets such as construction, mining, agriculture and forestry.

Ltd., HD Hyundai Infracore Co., Ltd.

and Appareo Systems LLC, use our global IoT services to monitor their off-road heavy equipment in markets such as construction, mining, agriculture and forestry.

• Fleet management :

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• Scientific data monitoring :

The global coverage of our network supports many scientific data collection applications, including the Argo float program of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, the Global Ocean Observation project Challenger, operated by Rutgers University, and anti-poaching programs run by the

The global coverage of our network supports many scientific data collection applications, including the Argo float program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, the Global Ocean Observation project Challenger, operated by Rutgers University, and anti-poaching programs run by the

Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Institute, the Zoological Society of London, and Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife, or VETPAW.

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We believe the increased need for monitoring climate and environmental data associated with global climate change and human impact on the planet will increase demand for these services.

In the future, we expect our value-added partners to develop new IoT solutions with increased capabilities based on our Iridium Certus TM 9770 transceiver and other future midband devices we plan to provide across all of our key IoT vertical markets.

In the future, we expect our value-added partners to develop new IoT solutions with increased capabilities based on our Iridium Certus 9770 and Iridium Certus 9704 transceivers and other IoT services we plan to provide in the future.

Hosted Payload and Other Data Services

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Because the hosted payload revenues are based on a contractual commitment for the life of the Iridium constellation, we recognize revenue from these customers over the expected life of the system.

As described elsewhere in this report, in the fourth quarter of 2023 we updated our estimate of the useful life of our satellites, which resulted in an extension of that useful life from 12.5 years to 17.5 years.

In addition to access and usage fees in the vertical lines of business described above, we generate revenue from several ancillary services related to our core service offerings.

In conjunction with Satelles, Inc., we offer Satellite Time and Location services, which helps augment GPS and provides reliable location, timing and positioning data.

Following our acquisition of Satelles, we offer PNT services, which provide a reliable complement or alternate to GPS in the event of disruptions such as interference, jamming, or spoofing.

We provide inbound connections from the public switched telephone network, or PSTN, short message services, or SMS, subscriber identity module, or SIM, activation, customer reactivation, and other peripheral services.

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Postpaid Mobile Voice and Data Satellite Communications Services

We sell our mobile voice and data services to service providers and VARs who in turn offer such services to end users, either directly or indirectly through dealers, using various packaged solutions such as seasonal or annual plans with differing price

levels that vary depending upon expected usage.

In exchange for these services, we typically charge service providers and VARs a monthly access fee per subscriber, as well as usage fees for airtime resources consumed by their respective subscribers.

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We also offer mobile voice services to service providers and VARs through prepaid plans.

Service providers and VARs pay us in advance for defined blocks of airtime minutes with expiration periods in various configurations, generally ranging from 30 days to two years, but which can be extended by the purchase of additional e-vouchers up to a maximum of three or four years.

Service providers and VARs pay us in advance for defined blocks of airtime minutes with expiration periods in various configurations, generally ranging from 30 days to two years.

These services are then generally sold to subscribers in the form of prepaid e-vouchers and scratch cards that enable subscribers to use our services on a per-minute basis.

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Iridium PTT Service

Building on the foundation of DTCS technology, which provides regional tactical radio service to U.S.

government users, our Iridium PTT service enables regional or global PTT calls among users on the same talkgroup in up to 10 customer-defined, geographically disparate locations around the world, providing a fast and robust communication experience.

Our Iridium PTT service enables regional or global PTT calls among users on the same talkgroup in up to 10 customer-defined, geographically disparate locations around the world, providing a fast and robust communication experience.

Iridium PTT can be used via the Iridium Extreme PTT satellite phone or the Iridium 9523 PTT core transceiver, which gives our VAMs the ability to build Iridium PTT into existing land mobile, maritime and aviation communications platforms.

For example, Icom Inc.

of Japan offers a purpose-built satellite PTT radio handheld unit for use on the Iridium network.

of Japan offers a purpose-built satellite PTT radio handheld unit and fixed installation PTT radio for use on the Iridium network.

We and our partners are also developing interoperability solutions for existing terrestrial land mobile radio systems, which will further extend the utility of the service.

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Increasingly, our IoT transceivers are being built into products for consumer markets, such as personal location devices that provide two-way messaging.

In the future, we expect our IoT partners to develop new offerings with increased capabilities based on our Iridium Certus 9770 transceiver and other future midband devices we plan to create that have optimized size, speed, power, and antenna characteristics for various applications.

In the future, we expect our IoT partners to develop new offerings with increased capabilities for various applications based on our Iridium Certus 9770 transceiver and the new Iridium Certus 9704 transceiver, with improved size, speed, power, and antenna characteristics.

As with our mobile voice and data offerings, we typically charge service providers and VARs a monthly access fee per subscriber as well as usage fees for data used by their respective subscribers.

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We have discontinued the manufacture of the Iridium Pilot platform that supports Iridium OpenPort services, with those customers often upgrading to Iridium Certus technology.

Iridium Satellite Time and Location Services

Following our acquisition of Satelles in April 2024, we began offering Iridium Satellite Time and Location ® , or STL ® , and other services.

These alternative PNT solutions allow users to secure GPS and other GNSS-reliant systems’ time-synchronized applications from vulnerabilities like spoofing and jamming, with small, low-cost hardware that does not require outdoor antennas.

Like other Iridium services, STL is capable of service everywhere on the planet, helping secure critical infrastructure, data centers, 5G base stations and applications across the aviation, maritime, land mobile and IoT sectors.

Government Services

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government and which has been accredited by the National Security Agency, or NSA, to provide Type-1 encryption, enabling communications up to Top Secret from anywhere in the world.

We also provide PNT services to the U.S.

government, delivering a resilient and diverse PNT signal over the Iridium constellation, to provide an alternative position, navigation and timing (APNT) capability.

We offer a broad array of voice and data products that work worldwide.

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An emergency response service provided by GEOS Travel Safety Group, or GEOS, is included with the purchase of the phone and airtime usage.

The two-way emergency SOS button initiates a voice call and an emergency text message via SMS to GEOS, which then coordinates with local emergency responders.

The two-way emergency

SOS button initiates a voice call and an emergency text message via SMS to GEOS, which then coordinates with local emergency responders.

• Iridium Extreme PTT.

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Iridium Certus is designed for maritime operational and safety services, combining the benefits of L-band with broadband and truly global coverage.

Iridium Certus terminals offer reliable connectivity for maritime customers whether used as a standalone service or as a companion to VSAT services.

Iridium Certus terminals offer reliable connectivity for maritime customers whether used as a standalone service or as a companion to broadband services using the Ka, Ku or C bands.

Our principal end users for Iridium Certus in the maritime market are merchant shipping, commercial fishing, large leisure vessels, and work boats.

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In addition, Intellian, a Korean maritime terminal manufacturer, introduced an Iridium Certus terminal to the market in 2020, and Thales introduced its VesseLINK 200 terminal, which uses our Iridium Certus 200 service, in 2021.

Additional Iridium Certus 200 terminals were launched in 2023, including the Lars Thrane LT-4200, and our partners continue to develop additional products.

Additional Iridium Certus 200 terminals were launched in 2023 and 2024, including the Lars Thrane LT-4200 and the Intellian c200, and our partners continue to develop additional products.

In aviation, Iridium Certus delivers critical safety services and in-flight communications.

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In addition, several partners now offer products with Iridium Certus 9770 transceivers supporting Iridium Certus 100 service for IoT, including the SkyLink product from Blue Sky Networks and the RockREMOTE from Ground Control.

In 2024, we introduced the Iridium 9704 transceiver, featuring Iridium Messaging Transport ® (IMT ® ) technology, which provides larger file transfer sizes and faster message speeds than previous Iridium IoT modules, delivering data, picture, and audio messages for industrial (IIoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) and remote personnel use cases.

Iridium also offers a suite of Iridium Edge ® finished IoT products designed to lower the barrier to adoption and speed time to market for customer applications.

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We contract with Cambridge Consulting Ltd.

and other suppliers to develop our devices, with Benchmark Electronics Inc., or Benchmark, to manufacture most of our devices in a facility in Thailand, and with Verigon to manufacture a portion of our

devices in the United States.

and other suppliers to develop our new products and services, with Benchmark Electronics Inc., or Benchmark, to manufacture most of our devices in a facility in Thailand, and with Verigon to manufacture a portion of our devices in the United States.

We also utilize other suppliers, some of which are the sole source, to manufacture some of the component parts of our devices.

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Substantially all of our revenue is invoiced in U.S.

The table below sets forth the percentage of our revenue from the United States and outside of the United States for the last three years.

No single country outside the United States represented more than 10% of our revenue for any of the periods indicated.

The table below sets forth the percentage of our revenue from the United States, Canada and all other countries for the last three years.

No single country outside the United States and Canada represented more than 10% of our revenue for any of the periods indicated.

Year Ended December 31,

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United States 53 % 55 % 52 %

Canada 11 % 8 % 9 %

Other Countries

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These crosslinks enable each satellite to communicate with up to four other satellites in space, two in the same orbital plane and two in adjacent planes.

Our traffic is routed on a preplanned route between satellites to a predetermined

satellite that is in contact with one of the Iridium teleport network, or TPN, locations.

Our traffic is routed on a preplanned route between satellites to a predetermined satellite that is in contact with one of the Iridium teleport network, or TPN, locations.

The TPN sites then transmit and receive the traffic to and from the gateways, which in turn provide the interface to terrestrial-based networks such as the PSTN, a public land mobile network, or PLMN, and the internet.

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The design of our space and ground control system also facilitates the real-time monitoring and management of the satellite constellation and facilitates service upgrades via software enhancements.

We believe our interlinked satellite infrastructure provides several advantages over low-earth-orbiting “bent-pipe” satellite networks that rely on multiple terrestrial gateways, such as Globalstar’s and ORBCOMM’s networks.

We have the only satellite network with true global coverage using weather-resilient L-band spectrum, and our constellation is less vulnerable to single points of failure, as traffic can be routed around any one satellite problem to complete the communications path to the ground.

In addition, the small number of ground stations increases the security of our constellation, a factor that makes our network particularly attractive to government institutions and large enterprises.

The low orbit of our constellation also allows our network to operate with low latency and with smaller antennas due to the proximity of our satellites to the earth.

The low orbit of our constellation and L-band frequencies also allows our network to operate with low latency and with smaller antennas due to the proximity of our satellites to the earth.

Our constellation is designed to provide significant coverage overlap for mitigation of service gaps from individual satellite outages, particularly at higher northern and southern latitudes.

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We do not currently hold any active in-orbit insurance policies covering losses from satellite failures, and we do not expect to obtain in-orbit insurance covering losses from satellite failures or other operational problems affecting our constellation.

Our primary commercial gateway is located in Tempe, Arizona, with a second dedicated commercial gateway located in Russia.

Our primary commercial gateway is located in Tempe, Arizona, with a second commercial gateway located in Russia for traffic within Russian boundaries only.

A gateway processes and terminates calls and data and generates and controls user information pertaining to registered users, such as geo-location and call detail records.

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When we do not have necessary spares in inventory or our spares become obsolete, we may rely on third parties to develop necessary parts.

We hold a space station license for the launch and operation of our constellation, which expires February 23, 2032.

gateway earth station and the U.S.

government customer and commercial subscriber earth station licenses expire between February 2036 and March 2037.

We must file renewal applications for earth station licenses between 30 and 90 days prior to expiration.

We hold a renewable space station license, which expires February 23, 2032, for the launch and operation of our constellation.

gateway earth station licenses and the blanket earth station licenses for serving the U.S.

government customers and commercial subscribers expire between February 2036 and March 2037.

Renewal applications for these earth station licenses must be filed between 30 and 90 days prior to expiration.

The Iridium constellation also hosts the Aireon system.

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Aireon also markets its data and services to airlines and other commercial users.

Under our agreements with Aireon, Aireon will pay us fees of $200.0 million to host the ADS-B receivers on our satellites, of which they have paid us $94.5 million as of December 31, 2023.

Under our agreements with Aireon, Aireon agreed to pay us fees of $200.0 million to host the ADS-B receivers on our satellites, of which they have paid us $110.5 million as of December 31, 2024.

These fees are recognized over the estimated useful life of the satellites.

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We are also authorized to use the 156.0125-162.0375 MHz spectrum for reception of Automatic Identification System transmissions from maritime vessels and the 1087.7-1092.3 MHz spectrum for reception of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast transmissions from aircraft.

Access to this spectrum enables us to design satellites, network and terrestrial infrastructure enhancements cost effectively because each product and service can be deployed and sold worldwide.

Access to this spectrum enables us to design satellites, network and terrestrial infrastructure enhancements cost effectively because each product and service can be deployed and sold globally.

Our products and services are offered in over 100 countries, and we and our distributors continue to seek authorizations in additional countries.

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Only member states have full standing within this inter-governmental organization.

Filings to the ITU were made on our behalf by the United States.

Filings to the ITU are made on our behalf by the United States.

The ITU also controls the assignment of country codes used for placing telephone calls between different countries.

Our network has been assigned the 8816 and 8817 country codes and uses these numbers for calling and communications between terminals.

Constellation De-Orbiting Obligations

We have certain de-orbit obligations under our FCC licenses.

Constellation Orbital Debris Obligations

We have certain orbital debris mitigation obligations under our FCC licenses.

All of our second-generation satellites are subject to a 25-year de-orbit standard under the FCC authorization of our current constellation.

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Aireon Holdings holds 100% of the membership interests in Aireon LLC, which is the operating entity for the Aireon system.

In June 2022, we entered into a subscription agreement with Aireon Holdings and invested $50 million in exchange for an approximate 6% preferred membership interest.

In June 2022, we entered into a subscription agreement with Aireon Holdings and invested $50 million in exchange for an approximately 6% preferred membership interest.

We also hold a common membership interest.

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Due to its GEO system, Viasat’s coverage area covers most bodies of water except for a majority of the polar regions.

Viasat is the leading provider of satellite communications services to the maritime sector.

Viasat is a significant provider of satellite communications services to the maritime sector.

Viasat also offers land-based and aviation communications services.

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Globalstar’s service is available only on a multi-regional basis as a result of its “bent pipe” architecture, which requires that voice and data transmissions be routed from satellites immediately to nearby ground stations.

This design requires the use of multiple ground stations, which are impractical in extreme latitudes or over oceans.

ORBCOMM also provides commercial services using a fleet of LEO satellites.

This design requires the use of multiple ground stations, which are impractical in some extreme latitudes or over portions of the oceans.

ORBCOMM also provides commercial services using a fleet of LEO satellites and also sells its customers some services from Viasat.

Like Globalstar, ORBCOMM’s network also has a “bent pipe” architecture, which constrains its real-time coverage area.

ORBCOMM’s principal focus is low-cost data and IoT services, where it directly competes with our IoT offerings.

Because a ground station may not be within view of a satellite, ORBCOMM’s services may have a significant amount of latency, which may limit their use in some mission-critical applications.

Because a ground station may not be within view of a satellite, ORBCOMM’s LEO-based services may have a significant amount of latency, which may limit their use in some mission-critical applications.

ORBCOMM does not offer voice service or high-speed data services.

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In addition, there are a number of more recent entrants to the mobile satellite services industry, including Starlink and OneWeb, with varying constellation designs and business models.

These newer entrants are primarily focused on commodity broadband services, where Iridium often operates as a companion service.

We also see some of these companies investing in direct-to-device services that in the future may increase competition for products Iridium is offering or plans to offer.

These newer entrants are primarily focused on commodity broadband services, whereas we often operate as a complementary or companion service.

We also see some of these other companies

investing in direct-to-device services that in the future may expand the current terrestrial cellular footprint in some countries, reducing the size of the market that requires mobile satellite services.

While we view our services as largely complementary to terrestrial wireline and wireless communications networks, we also compete with them indirectly.

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To the extent that terrestrial communications companies invest in underdeveloped areas, we will face increased competition in those areas.

We believe that local telephone companies currently are reluctant to invest in new switches, landlines and cellular towers to

expand their networks in rural and remote areas due to high costs and limited usage.

We believe that local telephone companies currently are reluctant to invest in new switches, landlines and cellular towers to expand their networks in rural and remote areas due to high costs and limited usage.

Many of the underdeveloped areas are sparsely populated, making it difficult to generate the necessary returns on the capital expenditures required to build terrestrial wireless networks in those areas.

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Employees and Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2023, we had 760 full-time employees and six part-time employees, none of whom are subject to any collective bargaining agreement.

As of December 31, 2024, we had approximately 873 full-time employees and eight part-time employees, none of whom are subject to any collective bargaining agreement.

We consider our employee relations to be good.

Human Capital Resources

Our company is made up of varied and creative teams, and we are committed to creating an innovative and inclusive environment where our employees are proud to work.

We foster this goal by focusing on development, employee wellness and social responsibility.

Our employees are integral to our success.

We must continue to identify, attract, develop, motivate, and retain highly skilled employees across many fields, and we use a variety of human capital measures in managing our business, including measures related to hiring, performance evaluations, retention and workforce demographics.

We strive to create an innovative and welcoming culture where our employees are proud to work.

We foster this goal by focusing on employee development, engagement, and wellness.

This starts with an onboarding process that introduces our core mission and values, policies and procedures, performance review process and background about our company.

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To measure employee engagement, we conduct an annual survey to assess and track retention and satisfaction.

We take responses from our employees seriously and use them to inform specific strategies every year tailored to both the entire company as well as specific teams.

In addition to performing benchmarking, we also conduct an annual survey to understand what benefits are important to our employees and ensure that we are offering a competitive total rewards package.

We offer various ways for our employees to stay engaged, including participation in Employee Resource Groups, or ERGs, volunteer activities through the Iridium Cares Program, and other outreach efforts that cover a range of topics and interests.

In 2023, we launched our first cohort of the Iridium Orbit Program.

Participants in this program embed with three engineering teams over 18 months, completing six-month rotations in operations, engineering, and customer care across our company in Arizona and Virginia.

This program aims to increase cross-functional knowledge and ensure new hires feel engaged and supported in their new roles.

We formed our Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council in 2020, and it has identified four objectives to make our Iridium community, and the world, a more diverse and inclusive place:

• Helping to recruit and retain team members with diverse backgrounds and experiences;

• Fostering participation in activities supporting diversity and inclusion within our communities;

• Training, educating, and communicating with team members on the importance of diversity and inclusion to our culture and viability;

• Periodically assessing our continual growth toward greater diversity and inclusion.

In 2022, we introduced the Uplinks program, which aims to embrace new ideas and the diversity of thinking across our teams.

This popular program pairs employees from different generations to encourage intra-company conversations and promote collaboration.

We currently have four working groups to put these objectives into practice.

Each working group has its own goals, stakeholder relationships, strategy and executive sponsorship.

We take responses from our employees seriously and use them to inform specific strategies tailored to both the entire company as well as specific teams.

In addition to performing benchmarking for employee benefits, we conduct an annual survey to understand what benefits are important to our employees and ensure that we are offering a competitive total rewards package.

We also seek to attract and retain a skilled workforce, including through programs such as our internship program, our Iridium Orbit Program (an 18 month rotational program in operations, engineering and customer care), or Uplinks program (a program pairing employees from different generations to promote collaboration and diversity of thinking), our Employee Resource Groups and other outreach efforts that cover a range of topics and interests.

We structure our human capital management to comply with the laws and regulations to which we are subject as a federal government contractor.

Intellectual Property

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These patents relate to several aspects of satellite systems, global networks, communications services, and communications devices.

In addition to our owned intellectual property, we also license critical intellectual property from Motorola Solutions to operate and maintain aspects of our network and related ground infrastructure and services as well as to design and manufacture certain of our devices.

This intellectual property is essential to our ability to continue to operate aspects of our constellation and sell certain of our services and devices.

We maintain our licenses with Motorola Solutions pursuant to several agreements, any of which can be terminated by Motorola Solutions upon the commencement by or against us of any bankruptcy proceeding or other specified liquidation proceedings or upon our material failure to perform or comply with any provision of the agreements.

In addition to our owned intellectual property, we also license certain legacy intellectual property from Motorola Solutions that we use to operate and maintain aspects of our network and related ground infrastructure and services as well as to design and manufacture certain of our devices.

This licensed intellectual property plays an important role in the operation of certain aspects of our constellation and some of the services and devices we sell.

We maintain our licenses with Motorola Solutions pursuant to several agreements, any of which can be terminated by Motorola Solutions upon the commencement by or against us of any

bankruptcy proceeding or other specified liquidation proceedings or upon our material failure to perform or comply with any provision of the agreement that remains uncured for a specified period of time following written notice from Motorola Solutions.

If Motorola Solutions were to terminate any such agreement, it may be difficult or, under certain circumstances, impossible to obtain the technology from alternative vendors.

We license additional intellectual property and technology from other third parties and expect to do so in the future in connection with our network and related ground infrastructure and services as well as our devices.

If any such third party were to terminate its agreement with us or cease to support and service such intellectual property or technology, or if we are unable to renew such licenses on commercially reasonable terms or at all, it may be difficult, more expensive or impossible to obtain substitute intellectual property or technology from alternative vendors.

Any substitute intellectual property or technology may also have lower quality or performance standards, which would adversely affect the quality of our devices and services.

For more information, see “Risk Factors—We depend on intellectual property licensed from third parties to operate our constellation and sell our devices and for the enhancement of our existing devices and services.”

Corporate Background

We were incorporated as GHL Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in November 2007 and became a publicly held company in February 2008.

In September 2009, we acquired the outstanding equity of Iridium Holdings LLC, or Iridium Holdings, a privately held company, and changed our name to Iridium Communications Inc.

In December 2000, Iridium Holdings, through its wholly owned subsidiary Iridium Satellite LLC, or Iridium Satellite, had acquired certain satellite assets from Iridium LLC, a non-affiliated debtor in possession, pursuant to an asset purchase agreement.

Available Information

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business