March 7, 2014: The U.S. Department of Defense has arranged for satellite telephone service provider Iridium to supply small (300 gr/10.3 ounce and the size of a small paperback) battery powered Iridium GO! devices that can connect to the Iridium satphone network
and provide a local wifi hotspot. Up to five users with a wifi devices
within about 30 meters (a hundred feet) of the Iridium GO! can have
Internet access. That means smartphones or tablets can use texting,
Skype to make phone calls or a browser for web search and limited
downloading. All of this uses military encryption. The Iridium Go! devices will cost the Department of Defense $800 each and the Iridium service is taken care of by the contracts the Department of Defense has had with Iridium for over a decade. Currently the Department of Defense (which also provides other government agencies with satphone service) is Iridiums largest customer accounting
for about 20 percent of revenues.
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