Iridium doubles customer base

(Satellite Today via NewsEdge) Iridium Satellite has more than doubled its satellite communications customer base in the aviation market throughout the past 12 months.

As of end-June, the installed base of Iridium aeronautical terminals has surpassed 7,500 units, with an average of more than 300 new units being commissioned each month.

Separately, Iridium said Euro Telematik had completed the installation of an Iridium-based aircraft tracking system for the Luxembourg Air Rescue service.

The Aerofleet system will allow operators to monitor the rescue fleet with automatic position reports sent from Iridium's network of 66 low-Earth orbiting satellites. The system also provides two-way voice and data exchange between the ground operations and the flight crew.

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