Iridium lands seven-year, $738.5 million Defense Department contract

(Space News, 16 September 2019) The U.S. government signed a seven-year $738.5 M agreement with Iridium Communications for unlimited use of the McLean, Virginia-based firm’s mobile communications constellation to ensures continuity for voice, data, broadcast and other services to Defense Department and associated users. Iridium borrowed $1.8 billion in 2010 from a syndicate of banks through a credit facility from BPIAE (formerly Coface), which it used to finance the purchase of 81 satellites from Franco-Italian manufacturer Thales Alenia Space. The company still owes $1.63 billion under the credit facility. Finalization of the EMSS contract would pave the way for Iridium to refinance the French export-credit loans it used to fund its $3 billion second-generation constellation, Iridium Next, that it finished deploying in January.