Iridium Communications Inc at Raymond James TMT and Consumer Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : So you all announced a lot on your recent quarterly call, several changes, I think a change in tone as well. Obviously, there are significant industry developments going on that kind of kicked off by the SpaceX-EchoStar spectrum deal. And you all announced you paused buybacks, you lowered your leverage target from sub-4x to sub-3x by year-end and delevering thereafter. You withdrew your 2030 guidance. But you also gave free cash flow guidance of $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion from 2026 to 2030. So obviously, some seismic changes in the industry going on right now. And I think a welcome acknowledgment of the current situation, what discussions happened at Iridium that led to those changes that you made?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. And building in that cash position, bringing leverage down, you mentioned flexibility for M&A. What could that look like?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. So it sounds like maybe something in the aviation space is interesting. I mean, what kind of synergies could there be in a combination like that?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. And since we're on the topic of M&A, when we look back at the GEO satellite industry over the past few years, the SpaceX, Starlink disruption, really, I think, hit that industry first, and they responded in many ways with a lot of M&A. Do you think as Starlink now enters into the narrowband space that you operate in as well as others like Amazon Project, Hyper or Amazon LEO, as it's now called. Do you foresee a similar kind of industry restructuring within your space?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. And I guess last question on this M&A topic, but there's a lot of 800-pound gorillas playing now. The ones I just mentioned, SpaceX, Amazon, Apple is not directly in the space, but they have a relationship with Globalstar. What is the importance do you think of being attached in some way to an 800-pound gorilla versus, obviously, you all or kind of your independent company, much smaller market cap than some of those other names out there?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. And one area that's driving a lot of the discussion around the consolidation is thinking about spectrum. And there's clearly a lot of value in spectrum. EchoStar's recent transactions have highlighted that to a lot of investors, I think, and now that's being reflected in other companies' stock prices. Can you frame for us how much you think your spectrum is worth? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 9:20PM, IRDM.OQ - Iridium Communications Inc at Raymond James TMT and Consumer Conference

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Great. Right. And there's a couple comps out there recently that people look at on, let's say, opposite ends of the spectrum, no pun intended. In terms of SpaceX's deal for EchoStar Spectrum, a really high valuation terrestrial kind of valuation. And then AST, Space Mobile, their deal with Ligado and Viasat Inmarsat. How do you think about your spectrum relative to those comps?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Right, right. And so a lot of the conversation recently has been about competition and what is Starlink doing, what is Amazon doing. But you all are going after the direct-to-device market as well, and you all are playing offense. Can you update us the latest developments there? What are the next catalyst events people should look forward to that show that you all are making progress there?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. Great. So signing up agreements of Release 19. Can you update us on when should we start to see revenues and cash flows from these efforts and when might those become more material?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. And you're talking a lot about narrowband IoT. And when people think of this direct-to-device market, a lot of the headlines and attention is around smartphones. How do you size the TAM, I guess, industry TAM and Iridium's TAM between IoT relative to the smartphone opportunity?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Right. Right. And what are your biggest advantages and maybe disadvantages as well going after this market is there's a lot of companies -- a lot of capital chasing D2D.

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. And a lot of the fears around Iridium have been how do these D2D offerings, how do they compete with your base business. So can you just talk to us about that? And your satellite phones, there's Garmin in reach and other personal communicational devices. How does your customer base maybe differ, maybe where is it similar to someone who might be a customer of these D2D offerings?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Is there any way you can size for us as a portion of your customer base or revenue base? You call them occasional users, leisure users, how large that base might be?

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay. In the US government, your largest customer, how do you think about that customer in terms of your relationship with them as these competitive offerings come? And you all announced recently an $86 million five-year IDIQ contract related to the infrastructure on your EMSS business. So can you just first talk about that contract? And then just more broadly your relationship with government.

Question: Brent Penter - Raymond James - Analyst : Okay, great. So what I'm hearing from you is, obviously, there's these fears out there. You made some changes in terms of your buybacks and leverage. You're aware of everything that's going on in the industry, you're watching it closely. But you still sound confident certainly for the next three to four years in a lot of areas where you have a larger moat. I guess in the last minute or two here, what's giving you all confidence right now in terms of what Iridium stock price should be worth and that investors should be buying Iridium?