Iridium strikes back in attack of the phones.

(From Lloyds List)

Byline: Communications company's star is in the ascendancy as recovery from Chapter XI bankruptcy has put it back in business, favour and fashion, writes Neville Smith

IF ALL publicity is good publicity, provided they spell your name right, then Iridium would appear to need little more by way of press coverage.

In the space of just five years the provider of low-cost maritime communications has seen its star rise, fall and rise again.

Its progress since emerging from Chapter XI bankruptcy protection in 2001 has been nothing short of remarkable, so if chief executive Carmen Lloyd and executive vice president of business development Don Thoma are keen to put distance between its old and new business models, then they have good reason.

The first iteration certainly had vision, betting heavily, albeit wrongly, on the shape of growth in mobile telephony. Costing a fortune to develop and deploy, the company flamed into life before crashing spectacularly for want of customers.

The period in purgatory which followed was relieved by a contract from the US military and the reborn company, a little more chaste but still punchy emerged, apparently ready to try again. Even talking to the pair at a distance, Mr Lloyd and Mr Thoma are immediately clear about what Iridium is about.