Iridium Sees Record Growth

Satellite communications company Iridium Satellite said this week it enjoyed a record-breaking summer with regards to growth in both worldwide subscribers and airtime. In August, the company said it added 8,150 net new subscribers - the most ever Iridium has seen in any single month. In addition, during the past three months Iridium has added a combined total of 22,000 net subscribers compared to 9,000 and 7,000 during the same period in 2006 and 2005 respectively. Iridium officials said the company has never added so many subscribers so quickly, and that the recent totals exceed all previous traffic and subscription records set during particularly high-volume periods. Regionally, the company experienced an upswing in North American traffic following a new pricing plan and churn from other satellite communications service providers. The company said Canadian summer traffic alone nearly doubled during the period increasing 78 percent year-over-year. Likewise, usage in the U.S during the same three-month stretch surged by 71 percent, Iridium said. 

Globally, traffic in the Asia/Pacific region is up nearly 50 percent when compared to last year. In Australia, Iridium said it continues to gain customers who were previously served by competing mobile satellite service providers.