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I thought they went bankrupt and had to deorbit all the satellites so I googled them. They have 1.7M subscribers. Seems they are doing something right.
by adrr 4y ago
I thought they went bankrupt and had to deorbit all the satellites so I googled them. They have 1.7M subscribers. Seems they are doing something right.
- jhugo 4y agoWell, there hasn't been a lot of competition in their space traditionally. Many of those subscribers (I've been one) use it because they need it and there is no better option, but don't exactly enjoy it...
- Thrymr 4y agoThey did go bankrupt, and Motorola (their original main funder) lost billions on the initial investment [0]. But shed of debt and reborn with new investors, they are now profitable [1]. They have now deorbited the first generation satellites, but since 2017 they have launched the Iridium NEXT constellation and that is what is functioning now [2]. [0] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-iridium-5615034/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/the-rise-a... [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fall-and-rise-of-iridium-1464980784 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fall-and-rise-of-iridium-14... [2] https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/iridium-next.htm https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/iridium-next.htm