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Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium Communications for $8 Billion in Challenge to SpaceX

7/2/2026

Rocket Lab has agreed to acquire Iridium Communications for $8 billion, combining its small-satellite launch and spacecraft manufacturing capabilities with Iridium's global communications network.

The deal would hand Rocket Lab immediate control of a 66-satellite low-Earth orbit constellation and the L-band spectrum rights that serve more than 2.5 million subscribers across ships, aircraft, and remote locations worldwide.

What Iridium Actually Is Iridium Communications is not a startup idea — it is an operating network.

Its 66 low-Earth orbit satellites provide connectivity to customers in places where terrestrial mobile networks simply do not reach: open ocean, polar routes, and the kind of backcountry where the only person you want to call is a rescue helicopter.

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