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Iridium Begins Testing its own Satellite Service for Phones

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Yesterday, 6:08 PM by Rich Brome @rbrome.bsky.social

Iridium has successfully tested its new "Iridium NTN Direct" service, which will provide global direct-to-device (D2D) satellite service — including two-way messaging — for cell phones, among other devices. Iridium's service operates similarly to those currently offered for Apple, Google, and some Samsung phones, in that it requires specific support built into the phone. Iridium's service is fully standards-based, implementing the NB-IoT protocol defined by the 3GPP. Iridium's service will be the only such service to operate fully globally, including polar regions. Iridium originally partnered with Qualcomm for its Snapdragon Satellite service, but pivoted to a standards-based service when that failed to gain traction. Iridium's pivot to 5G standards is made possible by its advanced "software-defined satellites", which allowed this new capability to be added to its existing satellites via software update. Iridium will continue to test the service with partners, aiming to launch the service commercially before the end of 2026.

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