Iridium came out in the time when cellphones weren't quite yet ubiquitous, and the military saved them from bankruptcy. However, today the demand for their serv

Iridium came out in the time when cellphones weren't quite yet ubiquitous, and the military saved them from bankruptcy. However, today the demand for their services is much higher because there is so much greater demand for mobile data services. There are 4.5 billion mobile phone users in the world, for example. And tons of companies have built out various systems and infrastructure that depend on mobile data. Enough of them need data links even in remote areas to justify the expense of using Iridium.