Iridium Sees Increased Maritime Competition From SpaceX

Iridium's maritime connectivity business is feeling competitive pressure from low-cost Starlink service, the company said Thursday as it announced Q4 financial results. Chief Financial Officer Tom Fitzpatrick said that SpaceX competition will likely drive average revenue per user down this year. However, Iridium should "get back to growth sometime in 2025" as the competition is primarily in the relatively few cases where Iridium is the primary connectivity service rather than a complementary one, he said. CEO Matt Desch said Iridium was invited to join the Mobile Satellite Services Association and is researching the direct-to-device service consortium unveiled this month (see 2402090013).