China Space Mobile Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (China Spacecom) is planning to open an Iridium gateway Earth station by the end of the year, Iridium announced March 27.

Iridium Satellite LLC and China Spacecom (an Iridium service provider since December 2005) have signed agreements for Iridium to provide technical assistance for commercial activation and ongoing maintenance of the gateway, to be located in Beijing.

China has “a large demand for Iridium short-burst data links,” said Tong Shirong, president of China Spacecom, each “in water resources management, hydrological monitoring, weather data collection, fishing vessel tracking, heavy machinery automation, environmental protection and other industries, as well as voice and e-mail communications with ships and aircraft on domestic and international routes.”