Page 8: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2012)

Iridium has more than 275 distribution and development partners innovating around the capabilities of our network every day. Of course, cooperation and collaboration means we have to give something up to get what we are lookingfor together. So we have deliberately de- cided not to be too greedy about tech-nology or market control and this is where it is really paying off. Weve opened up our core technical interfaces, chipsets, and technology to external part- ners so they can trust that our network is the one they want to innovate around. And, through them, our goal is being re-alized in making sure Iridium truly iseverywhere. We view 2011 as the year we really unlocked our innovation en- gine? by doing things like opening up our handsets with our Iridium ForceSM strategy, accelerating our machine-to- machine (or M2M) business success with even smaller and more cost-effec- tive devices, and packaging Iridium waveforms into technology that partners can download into tactical radios. As we increase our bandwidth withIridium NEXT, we see collaboration as critical to how we will sell our expanded broadband services. We would never take on the VSAT industry directly ? we believe our products can be fully com- plementary to each other. Finally, the most important collabora- tion of all, and responsible for Iridiums growth, is the incredible team that I work with every day at Iridium. According to your recent figures, total billable subscribers grew 22% year on year: How does this growth compare to your projections; and to what do you at- tribute the growth? DeschIndeed, 2011 was an important year for Iridium. In March 2012, we re-ported fourth-quarter and full-year re-sults that delivered on the operating and strategic targets we set for ourselves in 2011. We reported 523,000 total billable subscribers, and have projected contin- ued growth for 2012. Our subscriber ac- celeration reinforces how far we've evolved over the last ten years from a supplier of mobile satellite phones forniche markets into a global communica- tions company connecting people and things all over the world in ways never thought possible. Weve expanded the types of devices weve delivered to mar- ket, but weve also launched new initia- tives to enable the WiFi capability of consumer devices, such as Blackberries and iPhones, to work through our net- work. In addition, a key growth driver in our business has been in the broadband arena, both in maritime and aviation. We recently launched our new value-based, truly global maritime broadband prod-uct, Iridium Pilot, which is doing well interms of market reception. Overall, Iridium continues to perform well because we do important things incompletely different ways, as I discussed in relation to my management philoso-phy. We operate in attractive and grow- ing markets, have a superior network, a great partner ecosystem, recurring serv-ice revenue business with strong operat- ing leverage, and cash flow growth. Most importantly, were relentless in- novators committed to delivering cut- ting-edge communications. But, as mentioned, were not in this alone. Critical to our success is our large partner ecosystem that drives creativity and innovation on a scale we couldnt do ourselves. While Iridium serves many markets, we are concerned in this context with only commercial maritime, offshore and sub- sea industry users. Can you put in per- spective the importance of these markets to Iridiums future success as a whole? DeschThe maritime market is a natu- ral fit for Iridium. Theres a huge de- mand for complete global coverage, which only Iridium can provide, versus partial coverage, and a constant search 8Maritime Reporter & Engineering News INTERVIEWFIVE MINUTES WITH MATT DESCH, CEO, IRIDIUM Flying Sky HighCEO Matt Desch has Iridium at full steam ahead toprovide innovative maritime communication solutions By Greg Trauthwein, editor QPlease provide a brief overview of your management philosophy. I just had a wonderful chance to contemplate about that. I recently found myself writing an acceptance speech for a Satellite Executive of theYear? award. My first reaction was to request that the name be changed to Satellite Team of the Year.? My second reaction was to dig up some quotes about one of the values I hold most dearly ? collaboration. Charles Darwin once said, In the long history of humankind (andanimal-kind for that matter), those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.? That pretty much boilsdown my management philosophy. Collaboration is a very apt concept in our business. If Ive learned anything about delivering communications services via the worlds furthest-reaching network its that its hard. Its unforgiving. There is little room for error. And while you deliver upon that equation, you need to continue innovating to succeed. Few can go it alone. Iridium may have been one of the first commercial satellite or- ganizations to really grow into maturity and long-term success, but we didnt do it alone. I think of the Iridium network today ? the worlds only truly global satellite communications network. It is comprised of 66 satellites, and six in-orbit spares, circling the planet in the harsh envi- ronment of space, providing reliable, critical communications lifelines for our customers. Our technology partners today, such as Boeing, played an important role in building and operating this amazing network and now share in our success. Many of the same distribution and development partners have grown with us since 2001 and continue to be integral to our collective success. These collaborative partner relationships continue to be a fundamental part of our success.(Continued on page 78)