Iridium Communications, a leading provider of global voice and data satellite communications,  announced that it has completed its acquisition of Satelles, . The closing of this acquisition establishes Iridium as the leader in highly secure satellite-based time and location services that complement and protect GPS and other GNSS-reliant systems.

Now referred to as Iridium^® Satellite Time and Location (STL), the service joins the Iridium portfolio of solutions available for direct integration by the company’s ecosystem of approximately 500 partners around the world. Iridium STL makes it easy to secure GPS and other GNSS-reliant systems’ time-synchronized applications from vulnerabilities like spoofing and jamming, using small, low-cost hardware that doesn’t require outdoor antennas. The solution helps secure critical infrastructure, data centers, 5G base stations and applications across the aviation, maritime, land mobile and IoT sectors.

“The initial feedback we’ve gotten from partners in the short time since the initial announcement has made us even more excited about Iridium STL’s potential. We’re ready to step on the gas and expand the availability of Iridium STL to markets around the world,” said Iridium CEO, Matt Desch. “With our experienced partner ecosystem and global footprint, this needed capability can quickly help make the critical services we all rely on every day more efficient, reliable and secure.”

Enabled by the Iridium satellite constellation’s crosslinked LEO architecture, Iridium STL delivers truly global, secure time and location signals that are 1,000 times more powerful than GNSS constellations, works indoors and continues to work during regional GNSS system outages. Iridium anticipates the Iridium STL line of business will generate over $100 million in service revenue per year by 2030, with additional revenue from equipment and engineering.  The closing of this transaction marks completion of the first acquisition of another company in Iridium’s history.