Iridium Makes First Certus Broadband Call

Iridium Communications made its first voice and data ground-test call over its Certus broadband network being carried on its Next satellite constellation, it said Tuesday. Iridium said the voice and data call was the first combined use of the capabilities of three Certus components: the broadband satellite terminal, Next and upgraded capabilities in the company's terrestrial gateway. Certus will introduce an initial data speed of 352 kbps and a voice codec which will operate at twice the current bit rate of Iridium’s current generation offerings, and eventually will allow data speeds as high as 1.4 Mbps for a single user terminal once Next is fully deployed, Iridium said. It has said it expects Next to begin commercial service late in 2016, and said Tuesday that Certus will start beta testing as Next satellites come online.