Qualcomm Partnership to Go Beyond Smartphones, Iridium CEO Says

Smartphones using Qualcomm chips that tie to Iridium's L-band low earth orbit constellation will start to hit the market in the second half of this year, but those chips will likely end up in a wider array of consumer products over time, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said Thursday as the company announced Q4 2022 results. He said the chips will likely be used eventually in devices including laptops, tablets and cars. He said Iridium will increase capital spending to support the Qualcomm partnership. For the quarter, it had revenue of $193.8 million, up from $155.9 million the same quarter a year earlier. Chief Financial Officer Tom Fitzpatrick said revenue and subscriber numbers were both up sizably in 2022 and it expects notable growth in 2023 in its IoT, broadband, voice and data services businesses. William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma said in a note the Snapdragon Satellite service partnership with Qualcomm is expected to generate material revenue in 2024. There's an addressable market of 80 million to 100 million premium smartphone shipments annually in the near term, and that there's no major cost barrier for Qualcomm that prevents the Iridium service from expanding to tier-2 Android phones doubles the addressable market to 200 million annual smartphone shipments, DiPalma said. He said the Iridium satellite messaging service could motivate smartphone makers to use Qualcomm chips over MediaTek chips.