Updated Frost & Sullivan Research Further Validates Reliability of Iridium® Service Over CompetitorsBETHESDA, Md., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Iridium® Satellite is pleased to announce that Frost & Sullivan, an independent research and consulting firm, has released an updated report, "2008 LEO Satellite Quality of Service Comparison -- Gulf Coast Analysis," which is a follow-up on the report issued last year entitled "Satellite Telephone Quality of Service Comparison." Testing was conducted in southern Florida and southern Texas during February 2007.

Designed to measure the reliability and accessibility of each company's network, this recent testing by Frost & Sullivan has revealed that calls through the Iridium system are three and one-half times more likely to be successfully connected and completed, without being dropped, than calls placed through the Globalstar network.

"This test finds drastic quality differences between Globalstar's and Iridium's two-way voice service," said Frost & Sullivan industry analyst, Tim Street. "In testing, Iridium's 2008 call success rate was 93 percent, while Globalstar's was 26.7 percent. This difference is simply too large to ignore when trying to decide which service to rely on, especially for safety, survival or recovery applications."

Commissioned by Iridium to compare service, Frost & Sullivan evaluated Iridium and Globalstar calls placed over identical time periods and locations. In the first round of research issued last year, researchers placed over 1,000 phone calls using a variety of Iridium and Globalstar satellite phones from northern California and central Texas. In the second round of research, researchers placed over 1,400 calls using a variety of Iridium and Globalstar satellite phones from Southern Florida and Southern Texas on the Gulf Coast.

"Iridium has always felt a strong sense of responsibility toward our users, who live and work in some of the most inhospitable parts of the planet," said Matt Desch, chairman and CEO, Iridium Satellite. "That's why we're constantly monitoring our own network performance and frequently benchmark ourselves against our competitors."

If you are interested in receiving a copy of this white paper, send an email to Ron Gherman, at ron.gherman@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number and email address. You will be sent the information via email upon receipt of the above information.

About Iridium Satellite

Iridium Satellite LLC (http://www.iridium.com/) is the only MSS offering gap-free, pole-to-pole coverage over the entire globe. Iridium's constellation of 66 low-earth orbiting (LEO), cross-linked satellites (and multiple in-orbit spares) provides critical voice and data services for regions not served by other communication networks. Driven by increasing demand for reliable, secure, global, mobile satellite links, Iridium has been steadily growing at a double-digit annual rate since 2004. Iridium serves commercial markets through a worldwide network of more than 150 partners, and also provides services to the U.S. Department of Defense, and other U.S. and international government agencies. The company's customers represent a broad spectrum of industry, including maritime, aeronautical, government/defense, public safety, utilities, oil/gas, mining, forestry, heavy equipment and transportation. Iridium has launched a major development program for its next-generation satellite constellation, called "NEXT," through which it will enable satellite-based innovations beyond communications. The company is headquartered in Bethesda, Md. and is privately held.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective, and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.frost.com/.

SOURCE: Iridium Satellite

CONTACT: Bonnie Lieb of Sage Agency, +1-703-421-1905,
bonnie@sageagency.com, or Jim Rhodes of Rhodes Communications,
+1-757-451-0602, jrhodes@rhodescomm.com, both for Iridium Satellite

Web site: http://www.iridium.com/
http://www.frost.com/