Iridium - Everywhere

System

The Iridium system is based on 66 LEO satellites offering global coverage, even including the Polar Regions: it repre- sents the world's largest constellation of telecommunications satellites for private use.
The "Iridium" project was announced by Motorola in 1990 with simultaneous press conferences being held in Beijing, London, Melbourne and New York. The name was inspired by Iridium, the element identified by the number 77 on the periodic table: in fact, the initial project involved the launch of 77 satellites. On 1 November 1998, with its 66 satellites, the Iridium network was completed and the service was rendered operational.
The operator Iridium Communications Inc., is a publicly traded company based in Maryland, USA.
Iridium is the only telephony system that's capable of offering both voice and data communications to and from any point on Earth, including the Poles. The constellation's network architecture offers good voice quality and exceptional reliabil- ity of service, to the point that it is comparable to a terrestrial mobile communication system.

Voice

The Iridium system allows for calls to be placed and received at low rates in Satel- lite mode. There is no charge for incom- ing calls

Numbers that can be reached from anywhere in the World:

• Iridium prefix: +88 16********

Network Services

• caller ID
• call forwarding
• call blocking
• voice mail

Messages

The portable Iridium terminal only al- lows the user to send/receive SMS text messages (up to 160 alphanumeric char- acters) and emails to/from other Iridium terminals.
It is not possible to send or receive SMS text messages to or from Italian GSM mobile phones.
SMS messages can be sent to any Iridi- um terminal free of charge from the In- termatica website.
Some GSM operators may inhibit the sending/receiving of SMS text messages to/from satellite phones.

Data

The Iridium network allows the user to establish dial-up satellite data connec- tions of up to 10 kbps using compres- sion software. The Pilot and Open Port marine terminals can be used for data packet connections of up to 134 kbps.

Countries under satellite coverage *

Satellite services must be used complying with local regulations on use of satellite telephone devices..

* Iridium offers global coverage, including the oceans and poles.