[Satellite TODAY Insider 11-10-10] Iridium Communications has increased its 2010 full-year projections for total billable subscriber growth, government service revenues and operational EBITDA after reporting strong gains in its 2010 third quarter and establishing strong financing support for its Iridium Next constellation, the company announced in its financial results, issued Nov. 9.
    Based on its 12 percent growth in third-quarter total revenues at $94.5 million, driven by service revenues jumping 10 percent over results from the same period a year ago, Iridium now sees total billable subscriber growth to be about 25 percent for the 2010 fiscal year.
CEO Matt Desch said the increase is significant, as it represents growth in recurring revenue from Iridium’s subscriber base of 413,000, which accounted for 66 percent of the operator’s total revenue for the third quarter of 2010. Within service revenue growth, commercial service revenue will contribute 12 percent of the full-year increase, with government service revenues contributing between 8 percent and 10 percent.
    Desch also raised Irdium’s full-year 2010 operational EBITDA from $150 million to between $155 million and $160 million. Operational EBITDA outlook during the same period in 2009 was $133.9 million. “Strong subscriber and recurring service revenue growth continues to be driven by our leadership in the handheld voice market, an expanding M2M business and new products like Iridium OpenPort,” Desch said in a statement.
    Iridium also said that hitting its operational and financial milestones in the third quarter would allow the company to dedicate more resources to develop the Iridium Next constellation, backed by a recently closed $1.8 billion Coface facility. “Iridium Next has moved to the full-scale development phase, and we’re working with Thales Alenia Space, SpaceX and all of our technical partners to meet the design and development timelines. Now that we’ve closed on our financing, we’re also accelerating our effort with potential hosted payload customers and continue to make good progress in this area,” said Desch. 
   Iridium’s net income took an expected hit, dipping to $10.7 million in the third quarter of 2010, due to non-cash expenses related to its merger with GHL Acquisition Corp.
   Iridium’s equipment revenues regained traction, posting a 28 percent year-over-year increase to $27.1 million due to strong satellite handset sales and increased volume for M2M units. Iridium also said it addressed a parts supply delay it experienced in the second quarter of 2010 and is meeting standard order time lines for affected customers.

Related Stories-

Iridium’s $1.8 Billion Coface Loan Facility Interest Rates Lower than Expected    Satellite Today   October 6, 2010
[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-06-10] Iridium closed its $1.8 billion credit facility agreement with Coface at lower interest rates than Iridium s management expected, the company announced Oct. 4. The blended interest rate for the facility…

FCC Denies Globalstar, Open Range ATC Requests    Satellite Today   September 16, 2010
[Satellite TODAY 09-16-10] The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has denied Globalstar s request for waiver of the Commission’s Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) rules and rejected Open Range’s request to operate its terrestrial…

Boeing, Irdium Help Implement Space-Based Magnetic Field Monitoring System    Satellite Today   August 19, 2010
[Satellite TODAY 08-18-10] The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), with help Boeing and Iridium Communications, has implemented a space-based system to monitor the Earth s space environment, the APL announced Aug. 18.