Iridium service that enables one-number communication anywhere any time on the planet using its 66 satellites on the orbit 780 km high is to be inaugurated on November 1.
Completing its more than ten years of preparation, Iridium LLC of the US has decided to launch the worldwide commercial service on November 1 when the final test will be completed, said SK Telecom, the Korean partner of the Iridium consortium, on September 10.
Iridium LLC said that it chose to launch the planet’s first GMPCS service on November 1 even though the preparation for the launch is already satisfactory because "we want to maximize the reliability of this revolutionary communications service and deliver stable commercial services".
The Iridium satellite network consists of satellites running cutting edge software and presently the cross-link function of the satellites is working flawlessly. Tens of thousands of interoperability tests between satellites and with wire and wireless telecom networks produced satisfactory results both in terms of satellite call success rate and call quality. Iridium LLC said, "we plan to execute hundreds of thousands of additional tests by country before the launch date to guarantee high call quality virtually any time any place if it’s on earth as well as maximum satellite call success rate".
In Korea, SK Telecom has completed securing two satellite gateways, switching facilities and settling system to deliver Iridium service throughout the entire Korean Peninsula.
SK Telecom said that it has received 514 applications for subscription as of September 10. It began to receive applications from August 17.
The company said that the applicants will have a chance to participate in the tests to be administered until the inauguration of the service.