Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) announced today that the Iridium Certus 700 service is commercially available and is providing the fastest L-band speeds in the industry. When first launched in early 2019, Iridium Certus provided L-band upload and download speeds of up to 352 kbps. With the upgrade to Iridium Certus 700, provided at no additional cost to Iridium Certus 350 subscribers, top download speeds have now doubled to up to 704 kbps.  That is more than 270 kbps faster than the top download speed of the closest competitive L-band solution, for the same price per kilobit as Iridium Certus 350.

Unique in the satellite industry, Iridium Certus is the only broadband service that provides truly global, weather-resilient coverage for on-the-move internet and high-quality voice access.   Delivered through small form factor, cost-effective antennas and terminals currently available from Cobham and Thales, Iridium Certus has seen growing adoption by the maritime and land-mobile/connected vehicle markets.

Truly global maritime communications have never been faster, thanks to the Iridium Certus 700 service. Delivered through the Cobham SAILOR 4300 and VesseLINK by Thales satellite terminals, Iridium Certus serves as either a primary ship communications solutions or as a VSAT companion service.  Regardless of a vessel’s location at sea, Iridium Certus 700 delivers high-speed L-band connectivity, enhancing ship business applications, IoT services and connected ship communications.  Crew members on board vessels equipped with Iridium Certus terminals can also enjoy faster web surfing and reliable use of smartphone applications such as WhatsApp or WeChat, even in poor weather.

For the vehicular and land-mobile market, MissionLINK by Thales has been providing railways, first responders, governments and NGOs with comms-on-the-move connectivity regardless of their geography.  While enabling capabilities like positive train control and mobile-office functionality, including internet, email and voice calls, the MissionLINK terminal can also switch from satellite to cellular connectivity as needed to help manage costs. In addition, the faster speeds available can enhance applications such as telemedicine for remote aid workers, command and control or situational awareness updates for militaries, and remote database access or video monitoring for first responders and police. Governments and enterprises can also take advantage of the enhanced speeds for business and operational continuity efforts, ensuring they maintain communications when terrestrial connectivity is unavailable.

“There is nothing on the market today that matches the quality, reliability, speed and global coverage Iridium Certus delivers, and the Iridium Certus 700 upgrade clearly demonstrates this,” said Bryan Hartin, executive vice president, Iridium. “Iridium Certus is now the standard when it comes to providing primary maritime or VSAT companion service, and a reliable weather-resilient broadband solution for mobile applications supporting railways, first responders, and any industry regularly working beyond the reach of terrestrial coverage.”

With Iridium Certus 700, no new hardware is required for existing users, and the upgrade process is simple. Current subscribers can take advantage of a simple firmware update rolled out through their service provider, while all new terminals will already have Iridium Certus 700 activated.

“Iridium Certus continues to gain momentum, and we continue to deliver on our promises by providing the fastest L-band speeds in the industry,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “As we see this increasing adoption, we also look ahead to our coming Iridium Certus midband class of devices currently in development, which opens the door to enhanced capabilities for autonomous systems, remote sensors and a new generation of satellite-powered personal communicators.”

Iridium Certus is the company’s new technology platform that offers the flexibility to scale device speeds, sizes and power requirements both up and down based on the needs of the end-user.  Made possible by the upgraded Iridium satellite constellation, the Iridium Certus service goes beyond serving solely as a connectivity solution.  It provides a platform for the company’s partners to develop specialized broadband, midband and narrowband applications made possible by Iridium’s crosslinked L-band network.