Iridium constellation. Photo: Iridium

Iridium Communications has announced that its Iridium Certus 700 service is commercially available. The company said that when Iridium Certus was first launched in early 2019, it provided L-band upload and download speeds of up to 352 kbps. Now, Iridium said the upgrade to Iridium Certus 700 doubles top download speeds to up to 704 kbps, providing what the company calls the fastest L-band speeds in the industry.

Iridium Certus is a multi-service platform enabled by the upgraded Iridium constellation. It is delivered through small form factor antennas and terminals currently from Cobham and Thales. CEO Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium said a midband class of devices currently in development as well. 

“There is nothing on the market today that matches the quality, reliability, speed and global coverage Iridium Certus delivers, and the Iridium Certus 700 upgrade clearly demonstrates this,” Iridium Executive Vice President Bryan Hartin said. “Iridium Certus is now the standard when it comes to providing primary maritime or VSAT companion service, and a reliable weather-resilient broadband solution for mobile applications supporting railways, first responders, and any industry regularly working beyond the reach of terrestrial coverage.”