Inaugural Iridium Next Launch Delayed a Week

The inaugural launch of satellites in Iridium's Next constellation will be Sept. 19, a week later than anticipated due to delays with getting the launch rocket, said Iridium CEO Matthew Desch during the company's Q2 earnings call Thursday. Launch company SpaceX has assured that the brief delay "is a short-term issue; there shouldn't be issues for the second or subsequent launches," Desch said. SpaceX didn't comment. The second launch of the low earth orbit constellation is to be in late December, with five more launches expected about every 60 days afterward, he said, saying satellite manufacturer Orbital ATK ramped up its Next manufacturing "from low rate to high rate" in June. Two of the company's existing satellites ceased operations during the quarter, but that didn't affect the constellation's performance and availability, Desch said. "Our network is aging -- that's expected to happen," he said. "We're sending reinforcements very soon." Desch also said Iridium is lining up distributors for the Certus broadband service it expects to launch in Q2 2017 (see 1606070018). The satellite broadband service will compete with other L-band broadband offerings, with some Ku- and Ka-band broadband providers looking at using Certus as a complement to those services, Desch said. Revenue for the quarter was $109.2 million, up 7 percent, driven largely by government service and equipment sales, and net income was $26.9 million or 22 cents per share, Chief Financial Officer Tom Fitzpatrick said. Iridium stock closed Thursday at $8.99 down 2.6 percent.