Iridium previously announced it had entered into agreements with Qualcomm to enable satellite messaging and emergency services in smartphones.
The partnership was supposed to Iridium's satellite network used to deliver the services, which would be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile platform CPU.
Iridium said the companies successfully developed and demonstrated the technology but to date smartphone manufacturers have not included the technology in their devices.
As a result Qualcomm notified Iridium it has elected to terminate the agreements, effective December 3, 2023.
"While I'm disappointed that this partnership didn't bear immediate fruit, we believe the direction of the industry is clear toward increased satellite connectivity in consumer devices," said Iridium CEO Matt Desch.
"Led by Apple today, MNOs and device manufacturers still plan, over time, to provide their customers with expanded coverage and new satellite-based features, and our global coverage and regulatory certainty make us well suited to be a key player in this emerging market. User experience will be critical to their success, and we've proven that we can provide a reliable, global capability to mobile users," Desch said.
For example, Space-X backed Starlink outlined plans last month to deliver direct to device SMS services in 2024.
The termination of the agreement means Iridium will be free to engage with smartphone OEMs, other chipmakers, and smartphone operating system developers that it had been collaborating with previously, as well as form partnerships with new companies.
Iridium's announced its narrowband non-terrestrial-network service at its investor day in September. Iridium said new companies it may partner with would be involved in its development plans and would be able to access long-term service certainty as a result.
Iridium does not expect the termination of these agreements to affect its financial guidance for full-year 2023.
Iridium expects to generate about $1 billion in annual service revenue by 2030 and have the capacity to generate approximately $3 billion in shareholder returns through 2030.
