Iridium Satellite LLC reports that its mobile satellite communications service has been providing peak levels of reliable, critical lifelines to first responders in the Gulf Coast Region since news of hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike started to appear. Outreach by Iridium and its partner base has resulted in a significant increase in usage in the Gulf Coast. In areas affected by the recent storms, hundreds of subscribers made calls on the Iridium network to test their equipment or to conduct mission-critical operations. When news alerts of the hurricanes starting appearing last week, network traffic more than doubled in the region over the previous week. The company shipped 5,000 phones to service providers for new subscribers in the past two weeks, with the majority going to partners serving the Gulf Coast.

Iridium has worked proactively with its more than 175 distribution partners, as well as with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Coast Guard, and other emergency response customers, to ensure the availability of its devices and services during this busy hurricane season. Iridium and its distribution partners proactively prepare for anticipated disasters so that they are ready at a moment’s notice to provide extra equipment and services on demand. They have been pre-positioning equipment in the field and in storage for immediate shipment. The DoD furnished Iridium satellite phones to military units preparing for response activities in the Gulf Region. On the commercial side, C.J. Webber, president of Miami-based SatPhoneStore, a distributor for Iridium service provider Stratos, reported that he had, “… never seen so many walk-in customers for Iridium phones in the history of his business.” Michelle Williamson, general manager of Able-Infosat, said her company has seen an increased demand from the oil and gas industry for Iridium phones, having deployed close to 100 phones in the first 24 hours when news of Gustav hit.

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