Iridium Launches Industry-First Network Quality Guarantee
Iridium Satellite announces a new network quality guarantee program for customers with a promise of 100 percent satisfaction with Iridium service. The “Iridium Network Quality Guarantee” promises credits of up to 100 minutes of airtime, as well as three months free subscription fees, if the Iridium network fails to complete properly initiated voice calls from customers’ new Iridium handsets.
“Iridium is making this unprecedented offer to customers because we have the utmost confidence in the reliability of our network,” said Matt Desch, CEO and Chairman, Iridium Satellite. “Year to year, the Iridium system has consistently maintained an unmatched record of service in the mobile satellite services industry. Our performance metrics reveal that Iridium’s connection rate for satellite calls is near perfect.”
The Iridium Network Quality Guarantee offer kicks off today, February 15, 2007, and is valid for new customers using Iridium handheld satellite phones. If a customer is dissatisfied with the quality of Iridium’s network service within the first 90 days of service activation, the customer may submit a claim through their participating Service Provider. Iridium will work with the Service Provider to ensure issues are not related to user error or improper usage, and, if possible, will provide assistance to remediate any problems to the customer’s satisfaction. If the claim is deemed valid, Iridium will promptly issue the customer credits through the Service Provider. The following Iridium Service Providers have agreed to extend this industry-first guarantee offer: Global Satellite USA (http://www.globalsatellite.com/), Infosat (http://www.infosat.com/), The MVS Group (http://www.mvsgroup.com/ and http://www.i-linx.net/), Roadpost (http://www.roadpost.com/iridium), Satcom Direct (http://www.satcomdirect.com/), Stratos (http://www.stratosglobal.com/) and Telenor Satellite Services (http://www.telenorsatellite.com/, http://www.gmpcs-us.com/ and http://www.marlink.com/). Iridium anticipates others will follow suit.
Robust, Reliable Satellite Calls Everywhere in the World
In addition to being the only mobile satellite services provider offering THIS TYPE OF guarantee, Iridium runs the only network offering ubiquitous pole-to-pole coverage with no services gaps anywhere on the planet. The company’s unique constellation of cross-linked low-earth orbiting (LEO) satellites provides multiple layers of built-in redundancy to ensure network reliability. Calls are handed-off from one satellite to another until they are downloaded to one of Iridium’s terrestrial gateways and patched into the public-switched telephone system. Iridium’s 66 operational satellites are supplemented by numerous in-orbit spares that can be activated as needed, and backup gateway facilities are available if necessary.
“Iridium’s user base is increasing by 25 percent annually, as more and more subscribers are coming to recognize the benefits of global mobile satellite communications for a broad range of applications,” said Desch. “Our typical customers are individuals and companies with a critical need to communicate in places where terrestrial landlines and cellular phone infrastructures are unavailable, unreliable or overburdened.”
To ensure continuity of service to its customers, Iridium is already making plans for its next-generation satellite constellation, “Iridium NEXT.” In the meantime, the company continues to invest heavily in service quality enhancements to the existing satellite network. Iridium recently opened a new telemetry, tracking and command/control station in Fairbanks, AK., and is opening another similar facility in Svalbard, Norway, later this year. These stations will provide increased redundancy for regulation and management of the satellites in orbit.
Customers Depend on Iridium for Critical Communications
More than 175,000 users count on the Iridium system day-in and day-out for dependable communications. Brad Zuercher of Rocky Mountain Hydrostatics works on offshore pipeline construction barges, frequently operating under some of the most difficult weather conditions imaginable. “Using the Iridium system (from The MVS Group) has been easy and reliable, and I have never been denied a signal or dial tone,” Zuercher said. “My ditch bag’s contents include (in order of importance) the 9505A satellite phone with solar charger, and then food and other stuff. That is how much I trust this phone!”
Chris Groves, a Roadpost customer, understands the need for reliable communications in one of the world’s most remote and hostile regions. He is proprietor of the Arctic Survival Store on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada.
“We found that other mobile satellite providers simply do not reach far enough, but the Iridium service covers even the North Pole,” said Groves, who supplies equipment for lengthy hunting and fishing expeditions into remote regions of the Arctic Circle. “The Iridium system offers our travelers a lifeline during emergencies and a means to call for help when they run out of gas for their snowmobiles or need more food.”
Skipper Joe Harris, a Telenor Satellite Services customer, trusts Iridium to stay in touch with his family and shore support team from his Open Class 50 racing sailboat.
“I am most amazed at the Iridium satellite network capabilities when I am in the middle of the ocean, in horrendous weather with the wind shrieking in the rigging and waves cascading over the boat,” Harris said. “Even during these extreme conditions, I can be down in the warm, dry cabin talking to my kids at home as if I were there in the living room with them.”
About Iridium Satellite
Iridium Satellite LLC (http://www.iridium.com/) is the only provider of truly global satellite voice and data solutions with complete coverage of the earth (including oceans, airways and Polar Regions). Iridium delivers essential communications services to and from remote areas where no other form of communication is available. The Iridium constellation consists of 66 LEO, cross-linked satellites and has multiple in-orbit spares. The constellation operates as a fully meshed network and is the largest commercial satellite constellation in the world. The Iridium service is ideally suited for industries such as maritime, aviation, government/military, emergency/humanitarian services, mining, forestry, oil and gas, heavy equipment, transportation and utilities. Iridium provides service to the U.S. Department of Defense. The company also designs, builds and sells its services, products and solutions through a worldwide network of more than 100 partners.
