MCLEAN, Va., June 4, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:IRDM) and Arion Communication Co., Ltd., a specialist in maritime, aviation and land-mobile navigation and communications equipment, today announced a strategic partnership in which Arion will distribute Iridium mobile satellite communications services and products in South Korea. Arion will be offering its customers—including government/military, aviation, maritime and enterprise organizations—the benefits of the Iridium network, which delivers reliable voice and data communications, anywhere on the planet—even polar regions.

As part of the agreement, Arion will be reselling Iridium Pilot, powered by Iridium's OpenPort® broadband service, which provides the industry's only pole-to-pole mobile wireless coverage for ships at sea. It will also be selling Iridium GO!, the world's first truly global smartphone access device; the rugged, weatherproof Iridium Extreme® handset; and the Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) service. Through the Iridium partnership, Arion will be providing worldwide M2M communication coverage to global companies based in South Korea.

"We are especially excited about the opportunity to offer Iridium Pilot and Iridium SBD for reliable vessel monitoring systems to our customers," said Tony Park, CEO, Arion Communication. "Safety is of vital concern to every organization we work with, so it is important that we offer the most reliable products and services for their critical communications. With Iridium, we can deliver this today. And we are looking forward to offering them the many benefits of the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation when it comes online in the future."

Iridium NEXT, the company's next-generation satellite constellation, is scheduled to begin launching in late 2015. It will enable the Iridium CertusSM broadband service, which will deliver versatile, enterprise-grade, reliable communications and support a portfolio of partner products with a broad range of data speeds eventually as high as 1.4 megabits per second for a single user terminal. The Iridium NEXT constellation deployment is scheduled for completion in late 2017.

"We are excited to welcome Arion as an Iridium partner as it is experiencing tremendous growth in markets that can benefit from our products and services," said Bryan Hartin, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Iridium. "We look forward to working with Arion to enable the company's continued expansion."

For more information on Iridium, go to www.iridium.com.

About Iridium Communications Inc.

Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe. Iridium enables connections between people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. Together with its ecosystem of partner companies, Iridium delivers an innovative and rich portfolio of reliable solutions for markets that require truly global communications. The company has a major development program underway for its next-generation network — Iridium NEXT. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Va., U.S.A., and its common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol IRDM. For more information about Iridium products, services and partner solutions, visit www.iridium.com.

About Arion

Established in 2004, Arion Communication is based in Seoul, Korea. Customers include Military, Government and Enterprises across various verticals, and consumers. Solutions include networking, system integration, managed network services, security transaction, Internet, broadband and interactive distance education based on satellite network. Arion also provides the hardware, network and applications that work together to deliver a cost-effective, integrated approach for tracking, monitoring, control, and management of vehicles, vessels and assets anywhere in the world. In a short span of time Arion Communication has become leading satellite service provider which has enhanced the digital connectivity and increased the information flow within Asia. For more information, please contact sales@arionit.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not purely historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Iridium has based these statements on its current expectations and the information currently available to us. Forward-looking statements in this presentation include statements regarding the capabilities of the current Iridium constellation; the development and capabilities of the Iridium NEXT constellation, including the expected Iridium NEXT deployment and launch schedule; and the development and capabilities of Iridium Certus. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the words "anticipates," "may," "can," "believes," "expects," "projects," "intends," "likely," "will," "to be" and other expressions that are predictions or indicate future events, trends or prospects. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Iridium to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, uncertainties regarding Iridium NEXT development and functionality, potential delays in Iridium NEXT deployment or the development of Iridium Certus, and Iridium's ability to maintain the health, capacity and content of its current satellite constellation, as well as general industry and economic conditions, and competitive, legal, governmental and technological factors. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements include those factors listed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("the SEC") on February 26, 2015, as well as other filings Iridium makes with the SEC from time to time. There is no assurance that Iridium's expectations will be realized. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if Iridium's underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected, estimated or projected. Iridium's forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and Iridium undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

CONTACT: Press 
Contact:

         

         Diane Hockenberry

         Iridium Communications Inc.

         +1 (703) 287-7421

         Diane.hockenberry@iridium.com