Iridium
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Service Plans / Phone Service / Iridium
Iridium Satellite Phone Plans: Monthly, Annual, Prepaid and Regional
Airtime for the Iridium 9555 and Extreme 9575, on the only network that covers the whole planet including both poles. Every plan below includes voice minutes and texts; they differ in how you pay and how long the minutes last. Pick the way you pay first, then the size.
Postpaid
Monthly plans
A phone that stays in service all year: fleets, facilities, anyone who calls every month.
See 6 plans →Paid yearly
Annual plans
Organisations that would rather approve one line item than twelve.
See 6 plans →No contract
Prepaid minute blocks
A single trip, a season, or a backup phone that mostly waits in a bag.
See 7 plans →Named region
Regional prepaid plans
Trips or operations that stay within one of the three regions.
See 4 plans →Postpaid6 plans
Monthly plans
Pay each month for a set number of minutes, on a 12-month term. The plan renews every calendar month, and use beyond the allowance is billed at the per-minute rate shown on the plan page.
Who it suits: A phone that stays in service all year: fleets, facilities, anyone who calls every month.
BillingMonthly, postpaid
Term12 months
IncludesVoice minutes plus the same number of texts
Over the allowancePer-minute rate on each plan page
20 minutes and 20 texts a month
40 minutes and 40 texts a month
60 minutes and 60 texts a month
125 minutes and 125 texts a month
200 minutes and 200 texts a month
500 minutes and 500 texts a month
Paid yearly6 plans
Annual plans
The same six minute tiers as the monthly plans, paid for the full year up front instead of month by month. One invoice, no monthly renewal to watch.
Who it suits: Organisations that would rather approve one line item than twelve.
BillingOnce a year
Term12 months
IncludesThe same tiers as Monthly, 20 to 500 minutes
Best forBudgets settled once a year
20 minutes a month, paid yearly
40 minutes a month, paid yearly
60 minutes a month, paid yearly
125 minutes a month, paid yearly
200 minutes a month, paid yearly
500 minutes a month, paid yearly
No contract7 plans
Prepaid minute blocks
Buy a fixed block of minutes with an expiry date and nothing to cancel afterwards. Validity runs from one month on the smallest block to 24 months on the largest.
Who it suits: A single trip, a season, or a backup phone that mostly waits in a bag.
BillingOne payment, up front
Validity1 to 24 months, stated on each plan
RenewalNone; top up with another block
IncludesMinutes and texts, worldwide
100 minutes, valid 1 month
200 minutes, valid 6 months
300 minutes, valid 12 months
600 minutes
1000 minutes, valid 24 months
1200 minutes
4000 minutes, valid 24 months
Named region4 plans
Regional prepaid plans
Prepaid blocks for use inside one region: Latin America, the Northern Lights corridor, or the Middle East and North Africa. Same Iridium network, a smaller footprint.
Who it suits: Trips or operations that stay within one of the three regions.
BillingOne payment, up front
Validity6 months; Northern Lights 500 is 12 months
WhereInside the named region
IncludesMinutes and texts
200 minutes, Latin America, valid 6 months
200 minutes, Northern Lights, valid 6 months
500 minutes, Northern Lights, valid 12 months
500 minutes, MENA / North Africa, valid 6 months
Side by side
Which way to pay
| Monthly | Annual | Prepaid | Regional | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You pay | Every month | Once a year | Once, up front | Once, up front |
| Commitment | 12-month term | 12 months | None | None |
| Minutes expire | Reset each month | Reset each month | At the stated validity, 1 to 24 months | At 6 months; one plan 12 |
| Run out of minutes | Per-minute rate on the plan page | Per-minute rate on the plan page | Top up with another block | Top up with another block |
| Where it works | Worldwide | Worldwide | Worldwide | Inside the named region |
| Best for | Phones in service all year | One invoice a year | Trips, seasons, backup phones | Work that stays in one region |
The network
Why Iridium for a phone plan
Iridium is the one satellite phone network with nothing missing from the map. Sixty-six cross-linked satellites in low earth orbit hand calls between one another, so coverage runs pole to pole across every ocean, and the service does not depend on local towers or infrastructure that a storm or an outage can take down.
- Coverage everywhere: land, sea, air and both polar regions
- Works in canyons and mountain ranges where a geostationary signal struggles
- Voice and text on the same plan, from the same handset
- The network first responders, offshore crews and expedition guides default to
The fine print, plainly
Good to know before you activate
- A one-time activation fee applies to every new line; it is shown on the plan page.
- The minimum term is the one stated on your order, and ending early carries the fee stated there.
- Voice calls are billed in one-minute increments.
- Incoming calls to your Iridium number are free to you when dialled directly; the caller pays their own international rate.
- Incoming text messages are unlimited.
- Calls to other satellite networks such as Inmarsat or Thuraya are billed at a higher per-minute rate than calls to landlines and mobiles.
- If service is cancelled the SIM is permanently disabled and any unused minutes are forfeited.
- Prepaid minutes expire at the end of the stated validity unless a new block is added first.
Hardware
Phones these plans activate on
An Iridium plan only works on an Iridium handset. The Iridium 9555 and the ruggedised Extreme 9575 are the two current phones; both take a standard Iridium SIM, and a prepaid or monthly plan from this page goes live on either. If you rent a phone instead, rental airtime is sold with the rental, not here.
Questions
Iridium plan questions, answered
Not covered here? The help centre has dialing guides, activation steps and coverage maps.
Help centrePrepaid if the phone is for a trip or a season; monthly if it stays in service all year. A monthly plan is a 12-month term billed each month, so it only pays off when the minutes get used most months. A prepaid block has an expiry date and no renewal, which is the point.
Not sure how many minutes you need?
Tell us where the phone is going and for how long. A two-minute call beats guessing, and we will say plainly if a smaller plan does the job.