Company: IRDM
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001628280-25-005302
Chunk: 18

Company: Iridium Communications Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 18
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 IMO and a NATO advisory group have recommended the installation of a safe room or citadel equipped with a standalone secure communication link the crew can use from inside the room to communicate with rescuing forces. Our distribution partners have developed several product solutions using our network to meet these requirements for merchant and fishing vessels.

In addition, we have been recognized by the IMO as one of only two providers for the GMDSS. The GMDSS is a maritime service built to alert a maritime rescue coordination center of each vessel’s situation and position, information that can then be used to coordinate search and rescue efforts among ships in the area. As part of the GMDSS service, navigational and meteorological information is distributed to vessels. The IMO requires all vessels flagged by signatories to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, over 300 gross tons and certain passenger vessels, irrespective of size, that travel in international waters to carry distress and safety terminals that provide GMDSS services. GMDSS service using our 

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network became available in 2020, and our partners offer maritime terminals that include GMDSS service capabilities to vessel operators. In 2024, we announced GMDSS over Iridium Certus, adding Iridium GMDSS, as well as LRIT and SSAS, to the robust communication and safety capabilities of Iridium Certus. 

Aviation

We are one of the leading providers of mobile satellite communications services to the aviation sector, and we continue to see aviation as an area of potential revenue growth. Our services are increasingly used in commercial and government aviation applications, principally by business jets, corporate and government helicopter fleets, specialized general aviation fleets, such as medevac companies and fire suppression fleets, and high-end personal aircraft. Our services are also employed by commercial airline operators for flight deck voice and data link services for aircraft operational and safety communications. As a result of authorizations by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, and U.S. Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, for us to provide air traffic datalink communications, commercial operators are installing avionics that use the Iridium network on the flight deck to comply with international air navigation communications requirements to operate in oceanic and remote airspace, including polar regions. Voice and data avionics platforms from our VAMs have been adopted as standard equipment and as factory options for a range of airframes in business aviation and air transport, such as Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Bombardier Inc.,