![]() ![]() This will be in marked contrast to the higher prices, sometimes reaching $7 a minute, charged by the first incarnation of Iridium. In fact, according to Colussy, if the new Iridium can regain the roughly 63,000 users it had when the system was turned off in August, it will break even.Īccording to statements by Colussy during the December conference call, Iridium is planning to keep prices at less than $1.50 a minute no matter where on the earth the call originates. Since Iridium in its new incarnation has much lower monthly costs, it reportedly can be profitable with far fewer subscribers. These markets include aviation, commercial maritime, oil and gas, mining, heavy construction, forestry, emergency services, and yachts. Iridium has decided to target niche users rather than acquiring a large base of users in the general population. The new Iridium Satellite LLC contacted a sample of these users and learned that many of them found the service valuable and wished to keep using it. This added security will presumably make the system even more attractive for military use.īeyond the military applications of Iridium, there was a small group of civilian users who were left without service when the non-military side of Iridium shut down. According to the Pentagon, Iridium will offer an encryption capability in 2001. The DOD has a variety of needs for Iridium phones: small unit operations, special forces, combat search and rescue, and polar communications. According to Colussy, an Iridium communications package has even been installed on an F16 fighter aircraft. With its worldwide operations, DOD finds Iridium a useful communications tool. Department of Defense (DOD), which has its own Iridium gateway in Hawaii, continued to use the system without interruption. While civilian users were left without service when Iridium’s earth station gateways were shut down in August, the U.S. ![]() 12, 2000, the $25 million paid for the system was less than the estimated $30 million expense Motorola would have incurred to de-orbit the satellites. In fact, according to remarks made by Colussy during a conference call on Dec. The Iridium system purchase will probably be recorded as one of the biggest corporate fire sales in history. The Clinton Administration reportedly wanted to block the de-orbit plan because it felt public fears would be aroused at the prospect of more than 66 satellites falling from the skies, though a government study found that the plan for de-orbiting the satellites carried a risk to life and property – a 1 in 10,000 chance of someone on the ground being hurt by falling debris – that was acceptable under federal guidelines. The spacecraft would be slowed, they would lose altitude, and then they would enter the upper atmosphere where they would slow further, lose more altitude, and eventually burn up due to frictional heating. Motorola Corp., which was the major partner behind Iridium, had announced in late August that it intended to shut down the system and “de-orbit” the satellites. Iridium Satellite is headed by Dan Colussy, a former president of Pan Am airlines and chairman of United Nuclear Corp. Iridium Satellite LLC (is taking over the Iridium system for a reported $25 million as per the order of the U.S. will operate the system, which includes low-earth-orbiting satellites, a control network, and an operations center. According to the Pentagon, there are an estimated 20,000 U.S. 6, 2000, when the Pentagon announced a $72 million, two-year contract with Iridium Satellite LLC of Arnold, Md., to provide continued Iridium service. ![]() Iridium’s satellite constellation escaped fiery destruction on Dec. 2000) appears to have been, to quote Mark Twain, “greatly exaggerated.” My recent report on the Iridium satellite system’s death (“Iridium’s fall,” Issue No. Events then break in a different direction and make the story less than accurate. Sometimes, in the interest of getting a story out while it’s fresh, journalists can get a little ahead of themselves. ![]()
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