Iridium has announced that COMSAT, Gilat Telecom, Globecomm, MetOcean Telematics, NSSLGlobal, Trace Systems and Wireless Innovation, have officially been added as Iridium Certus service providers for land-mobile applications. Designed for organizations in need of “on-the-move” connectivity solutions, Iridium Certus will bring a full suite of services enabling truly globally connected vehicles when used with the Thales MissionLINK terminal. Each of these new Iridium Certus service providers will play a crucial role in distributing the next-generation service to their customer networks. The addition of these seven companies brings the total number of service providers for land-mobile applications to 20.

The Iridium Certus service includes features like high-quality voice calling and low latency IP data with speeds debuting at 352 Kbps, and upgradable to 704 Kbps download speeds with a future firmware release. This will provide the fastest reliable L-band satellite broadband connectivity on the market. Land-mobile users will gain access to a truly connected environment whether at a remote work site or on-the-move with connected vehicles.

To date, there have been six successful Iridium Next launches, deploying 55 new satellites. Two additional launches are planned for 2018 to complete the constellation of 75 new satellites, of which 66 will be in the active constellation, with nine on-orbit spares. The seventh launch is currently targeted by SpaceX for July 20, out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.