Iridium Satellite Reports Strong Growth in Crew Calling Subscribers During 2006

Iridium executive vice president, Don Thoma, attributes the success to the company’s unique value proposition, offering the best combination of cost and convenience for crew members to make ship-to-shore calls at sea. “Iridium maritime satellite terminals, which use small omni-directional antenna units instead of steerable, stabilized dishes, are easy and inexpensive to install, and the satellite airtime charges are substantially lower than other marine satellite communication systems,” Thoma observed. “Iridium is also the only satellite communication network offering global pole-to-pole coverage over all of the world’s ocean areas.”

Shipowners and managers are responding to the rising costs of attracting and retaining qualified seagoing crew members. The Iridium Crew Calling program provides an important contribution to crew welfare and job satisfaction by making it easy for them to keep in touch with friends and families while at sea.

Using convenient prepaid scratch cards, Iridium’s Crew Calling plan provides a cost-effective and easy-to-administer program. Crew calls are priced at a single flat rate per minute, regardless of the time of day or location. Personal calls are automatically separated from the ship’s traffic, eliminating the burden of manually accounting for crew calls on the satellite network. Crew members can use an extension phone in the break room to make satellite calls, avoiding any interference with communications on the ship’s bridge or equipment room.

Iridium’s Family First program offers 35 percent discounts for crew calls placed with scratch cards on major holidays, as well as the first day of each month and weekends. The discounts are applied automatically and are in effect for 24 hours based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), regardless of the location of call origin or termination.

“Iridium is planning to expand this highly successful program, adding new holidays in 2007,” said Thoma.

Archives: (2005 ) / (2006)

25 October 2006
Iridium Announces Two
Industry Defense Updates
at MILCOM 2006

17 October 2006
Weather Data Systems
Utilizes Iridium Satellites for
Air to Ground Links

26 September 2006
Iridium Provides Low
Cost Satellite Email for
Zodiac Ships

26 September 2006
Iridium Provides Data Link
For Ice Monitoring Buoy
in Arctic Ocean

25 September 2006
Iridium Reports Strong
Growth in Crew Calling
During 2006

28 August 2006
Senator Ted Stevens
Officiates at New Iridium
Alaska Ground Station

14 August 2006
Iridium Provides Satellite
Communications for Medical
Assistance Program

17 July 2006
Iridium Equips U.K. Maritime
and Coastguard Agency

12 July 2006
Iridium Reports Spectacular Yearly Growth for Mobile
Satellite Services in
Aeronautical Market

10 July 2006
Iridium Provides Satellite
Communications for New
York Air National Guard
in Antarctic Missions

30 June 2006
Iridium Satellite Links
Tansmit Data to Tsunameter Buoy System

19 June 2006
Iridium Gears Up for 300%
Increase in Alaska Traffic

13 June 2006
Iridium Introduces Hurricane Equipment and Service

10 May 2006
Iridium Selected to Supply Global Asset Tracking to
ARGO Tracker

3 May 2006
Iridium Prepares for
June 1st Hurricane Season

1 May 2006
Iridium Offers First Government Emergency Response Package

24 April 2006
Iridium & Telenor Provide Satellite Communications for the National Center of Missing & Exploited Children

20 February 2006
Iridium Introduces Rural Satellite Communications
at SatCom Africa

7 February 2006
Iridium Completes Beta
Tests of Push-to-Talk
Voice & Data Service

7 February 2006
Iridium Launches Compact Lower Cost Data Transceiver

7 February 2006
Iridium Begins
Construction on New
Alaska Ground Station

24 January 2006
New Iridium Based In-Flight Calling Service for Passengers

19 January 2006
Iridium Supplies Critical Communications for Ham Radio Antartic "DXpedition"