Thales Alenia Space’s representation of the Iridium NEXT constellation at the 2015 Paris Air Show. Photo: Photopointcom Thales

[Via Satellite 06-07-2016] Iridium plans to begin the commercial availability of its Iridium Certus service the second quarter of 2017, the company announced today. Iridium Certus is an upcoming satellite broadband communications service designed to enable global voice and data services to users and enterprises across all industry verticals. The Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) operator has signed manufacturing partnerships with specialists in different verticals, including Cobham, L-3, Thales and Rockwell Collins, for vertical-specific Iridium Certus products.

The L-band service relies on Iridium Next, the company’s next-generation Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation scheduled to begin launching this summer. Once fully deployed, Iridium Certus will eventually deliver speeds up to 1.4 megabits per second. Iridium has partnered with SpaceX for its series of seven launches, with 10 Iridium Next satellites deployed at a time per Falcon 9 rocket.