Companies · IRDM
Iridium Communications
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Latest analysis
Updated Oct 20, 2026
Iridium Q3 2026: Aireon acquisition closes, Rocket Lab merger pending — operating income compressed 55% by $21M in transaction costs as subscriber base grows 6% YoY.
The defining event of Q3 2026 for Iridium is the July 2 closing of the Aireon acquisition at a total consideration of $352.2 million, which simultaneously added $26.3 million in hosted payload revenue and triggered a $103.9 million non-cash remeasurement gain that inflated reported net income to $106.9 million. Beneath those acquisition effects, operating income collapsed 55% to $31.6 million as SG&A surged 111% — driven by $21.3 million in transaction costs for the Aireon and Rocket Lab deals — obscuring otherwise solid commercial momentum: total billable subscribers reached 2,696,000, up 6% YoY, and total revenue grew 8% to $245.7 million. The pending Rocket Lab merger, unanimously approved by Iridium's board and cleared by stockholder vote on September 24, represents a terminal event for IRDM as a standalone public company, expected to close by mid-2027.
Tone: mixedRevenue
$871.7M
IRDM 10-K · FY 2025
Employees
975
Revenue growth YoY
+5%
Headquarters
McLean, VA
Profile
IRDM 10-K Item 1 · Feb 12, 2026Iridium Communications is the only commercial satellite operator offering true global voice, data, and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services via a 66-satellite LEO constellation using an interlinked mesh architecture. The company serves commercial, government, and NGO customers across land mobile, maritime, aviation, IoT, and hosted payload markets worldwide. It sells primarily through a wholesale distribution network of approximately 520 service providers, VARs, and VAMs.
Read filing description ↓ Collapse description ↑
Iridium Communications Inc. is a leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) satellite services. We are the only commercial provider of communications services offering true global coverage, connecting people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. Our low-Earth orbit (LEO), L-band network provides specialized, reliable, weather-resilient communications services to regions of the world where terrestrial wireless or wireline networks do not exist or are limited, including remote land areas, open ocean, airways, the polar regions, and regions where the telecommunications infrastructure has been affected by political conflicts or natural disasters. In addition, our satellites have additional payloads to host specific additional services for other customers like Aireon LLC. We also utilize our long history operating a commercial LEO satellite system to provide a growing array of engineering and operational services to government customers and government network operators such as the U.S. Space Force. Our primary business is to provide voice and data communications services to businesses, U.S. and foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers via our satellite network, which has an architecture of 66 operational satellites with in-orbit spares and related ground infrastructure. We utilize an interlinked mesh architecture in space to route traffic across our satellite constellation using radio frequency crosslinks between satellites. This architecture minimizes the need for local ground facilities to support the constellation, which facilitates the global reach of our services and allows us to offer services in countries and regions where we have no physical presence.
Primary products
- Iridium 9555 satellite phone
- Iridium Extreme satellite phone
- Iridium Extreme PTT
- Iridium GO!
- Iridium GO! exec
- Iridium Certus broadband service
Business segments
End markets
Geographies
Named customers
The U.S. government, directly and indirectly, has been and continues to be our largest single customer, generating $257.0 million in revenue, representing 29% of our total revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2025.
Named competitors
“We are the only mobile satellite services operator offering real-time, weather-resilient, low-latency services with true global coverage, including full coverage of the polar regions.” Competitive position, as stated in the filing
Revenue commentary · FY 2025
Total revenue increased from $830.7 million in 2024 to $871.7 million in 2025, representing a 5% increase, driven by growth in engineering and support services and commercial services revenue.
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