Strategic partnership to accelerate Iridium NTN Direct services and satellite-terrestrial NB-IoT integration
RICHARDSON, Texas, Sept. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mavenir, the cloud-native network infrastructure provider building the future of networks, today announced it has been selected by Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM), a leading provider of global voice and data satellite communications, to deploy the Core Network of its Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), helping to enable – 3GPP based Direct-to-Device (D2D) services.
In support of Iridium NTN DirectSM, Mavenir will deliver its fully containerized, cloud-native Converged Packet Core solution, hosted in Iridium’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud environment. The deployment supports Iridium’s strategy to offer 3GPP standards-based NTN capabilities over its existing satellite network, while maintaining readiness for future D2D offerings.
Ashok Khuntia, President of Core Networks for Mavenir said: “This collaboration with Iridium is a strategic milestone in Mavenir’s mission to enable seamless connectivity across terrestrial and non-terrestrial domains. By deploying our cloud-native Converged Packet Core on AWS, we’re helping Iridium deliver global NB-IoT services today – It’s a powerful demonstration of how Mavenir’s flexible, scalable core solutions can adapt to meet the evolving needs of satellite-driven networks.”
Mavenir’s solution includes a full suite of core network functions – such as Converged Session Management Function, Converged User Plane Function, Policy Control, Subscriber Management, Network Exposure Function, and messaging capabilities – supported by a centralized operations and analytics platform. The solution is designed for high availability and geo-redundancy across multiple AWS regions.
Tim Last, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Iridium said: “As we prepare to launch Iridium NTN Direct, our partnership with Mavenir will help ensure a strong foundation for the service. Whether it’s for IoT or D2D, Iridium NTN Direct will provide a truly global, reliable, and future-ready solution for MNOs, chipmakers, and consumers worldwide.”
The project enables easy integration with Iridium’s existing provisioning and billing systems, while also supporting NB-IoT traffic delivery across multiple interfaces including IP, UDP, TCP, and Non-IP Data Delivery (NIDD). Future evolution toward 5G NR will allow Iridium to use the same backend infrastructure for a smooth and low-downtime migration path to D2D connectivity.
This latest win enhances Mavenir’s growing NTN portfolio and highlights its ability to enable satellite operators with proven, standards-compliant packet core solutions that are optimized for cloud-native deployment environments.
About Mavenir
Mavenir is building the future of networks today with cloud-native, AI-enabled solutions which are green by design, empowering operators to realize the benefits of 5G and achieve intelligent, automated, programmable networks. As the pioneer of Open RAN and a proven industry disruptor, Mavenir’s award-winning solutions are delivering automation and monetization across mobile networks globally, accelerating software network transformation for 300+ Communications Service Providers in over 120 countries, which serve more than 50% of the world’s subscribers. For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com
For more information about Iridium NTN Direct, visit: www.iridium.com/ntn-direct/
Media Contacts
Mavenir PR Contacts:
Emmanuela Spiteri
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