Iridium Signs PPDR Partnership with WCK

This collaboration will strengthen WCK's ability to coordinate and deliver food assistance to communities facing crises, including supporting communications for their frontline relief workers and first responders.

Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM) a leading provider of global voice and data satellite communications, today announced a strategic partnership with World Central Kitchen (WCK), an organization dedicated to providing relief to communities experiencing natural, humanitarian, and climate-driven disasters. This collaboration will strengthen WCK's ability to coordinate and deliver food assistance to communities facing crises, including supporting communications for their frontline relief workers and first responders. Founded in 2010, WCK has served over 450 million meals across six continents in response to humanitarian and climate crises.

When responding to crises around the world, WCK has faced challenges due to lack of reliable local communications infrastructure. In disaster situations, terrestrial communications often quickly become disabled, making it difficult for first responders to quickly and effectively deploy their relief efforts. By partnering with Iridium, WCK is filling these gaps and addressing communication vulnerabilities with reliable, satellite-based services that enable communication in higher risk areas of operations.

With Iridium's truly global, weather-resilient satellite network, the WCK team will stay reliably connected everywhere on the planet. Through this partnership, WCK will benefit from several Iridium® and Iridium ConnectedTM devices, including the Iridium GO! exec®, Iridium GO!®, Iridium Extreme® PTT, and Icom IC-SAT 100. Members of WCK's leadership teams, coordination centers, and on-site staff will rely on this suite of devices using Iridium services for rapid response and real-time critical communications with deployed teams such as local first responders, field leaders and support staff. These lightweight and highly mobile devices will give WCK the ability to use voice call, message, email, and secure group Push-to-Talk communication from anywhere in the world.

"Reliable connectivity is critical for our teams to coordinate relief efforts in the most challenging environments during World Central Kitchen disaster response," says Prianka Nandy, WCK Acting Senior Vice President for Digital & Data. "Having a range of Iridium solutions in place means that our relief teams have access to real-time communications, so they can move fast to bring meals to the communities that need them."

"World Central Kitchen's mission to provide meals in the wake of disasters is critical, especially where traditional communications are unavailable," said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. "By leveraging our truly global network, WCK can better coordinate their relief efforts in even the most challenging of environments. From responding to hurricanes in the Caribbean to supporting communities affected by wildfires, earthquakes or humanitarian disasters, we're proud to support them as they make a real difference during times of great need."

Iridium's unique network of crosslinked, polar-orbiting satellites provide reliable connectivity around the entire globe. Its L-band spectrum provides a strong, weather-resilient connection, making it an ideal communications platform for teams like WCK operating in remote and challenging conditions. Additionally, Iridium's unique satellite architecture dynamically routes communications through geographically dispersed gateways, maintaining connectivity even when local telecom infrastructure is disrupted by natural disasters or other emergencies. This unmatched reliability makes Iridium a preferred choice for many UN agencies and NGOs that depend on secure, mission-critical communications.