- Iridium (NASDAQ:IRDM) is up 5.5% premarket after news that its network has won approval for maritime safety, a move that will let it compete in a global ocean market.
- The International Maritime Organization's Maritime Safety Committee made the determination, a move that Iridium says ends a decades-long satellite industry monopoly.
- The company's services will get going with a Public Services Agreement between Iridium and the International Mobile Satellite Organization, which will monitor the company's implementation.
- Iridium had formally begun the process in April 2013.
- “This is a historic moment for the maritime industry and an honor for Iridium to be the second ever recognized provider for GMDSS services,” said Iridium's Bryan Hartin. “This is the dawn of a new era for mariner safety."