Iridium already supplies satellite-based telephony to the armed forces, first responders and some key non-governmental organisations. The company says it now expects to start Direct-To-Device (D2D) satellite-phone calls in 2026.

Iridium made the comments during its 2024 full year results (total revenue in 2024 of $830.7 million (€792.8m), which was up 5 per cent from the year-ago period). Iridium serves 415,000 subscribers and a further 1,887,000 for Internet of Things connections. For the full year, Iridium reported net income of $112.8 million.

The positive news pushed Iridium’s share price up 15 per cent on February 13th.

CEO Matt Desch said he expected the introduction of D2D services to make a “material contribution” to its revenue numbers during 2027 and grow significantly by 2029.

Desch added that Iridium had been testing its L-band D2D scheme with at lest one handset manufacturer. Iridium has global rights to its L-band frequencies.

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Tags: d2d, iridium