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Mar 31, 2021

Iridium Q1 2021 Earnings Report

Iridium's first quarter results reflected subscriber growth and strategic share repurchases.

Key Takeaways

Iridium Communications Inc. reported first-quarter 2021 results with a total revenue of $146.5 million, a 1% increase from the previous year. The company's subscriber base grew by 14% year-over-year, driven by commercial and government IoT customers. Iridium also commenced a share buyback program, retiring 1.6 million shares during the quarter.

Total revenue increased by 1% year-over-year, reaching $146.5 million.

Service revenue remained essentially flat compared to the prior year, totaling $116.2 million.

Total billable subscribers grew by 14% year-over-year, reaching 1,518,000.

The company retired 1.6 million shares under its recently authorized share repurchase program.

Total Revenue
$147M
Previous year: $145M
+0.9%
EPS
-$0.04
Previous year: -$0.01
+300.0%
Commercial Voice/Data ARPU
$39
Previous year: $40
-2.5%
Commercial IoT Data ARPU
$8.39
Previous year: $9.71
-13.6%
Cash and Equivalents
$222M
Previous year: $67.3M
+230.3%

Iridium

Iridium

Iridium Revenue by Segment

Forward Guidance

The Company reiterated its full-year 2021 outlook and other elements of long-term guidance:

Positive Outlook

  • Total service revenue growth of approximately 3% for full-year 2021. Total service revenue for 2020 was $463.1 million.
  • Full-year 2021 OEBITDA between $365 million and $375 million. OEBITDA for 2020 was $355.6 million.
  • Negligible cash taxes in 2021.
  • Cash taxes are expected to be negligible through approximately 2023.
  • Net leverage of below 3.5 times OEBITDA at the end of 2022, assuming $300.0 million in share repurchases.