are attractive again as investment opportunities. Partly, this shift is technologically driven. Satellites can now pack more processing power into a much smaller space. Advances in RF and baseband hardware have delivered a steady year-on-year increase in functionality per kilogram of orbital weight. Solar panel arrays are more efficient and can deliver more onboard power to support wider-bandwidth two-way communication. Smart antenna technologies have improved over the past ten years SO available power can be more accurately and adaptively deployed. Improvements in station-keeping efficiency and hardware reliability have helped to increase the life span of satellites. An operational life of 15 years is now a realistic expectation even for the traditionally shorter-lived low-earth orbit platforms. A reasonably broad choice of launch options and some innovative mission-insurance solu- tions have helped trim launch costs. All these factors together have contributed positively to the overall economics of providing or updating and upgrading satellite-based services. Iridium has the advantage of an existing constellation, an established and loyal user base and a track record of providing emergency-service support. It has to be said that cellular operators have not been as conspicuously successful at nurturing and serving specialist user communities. The lack of service immediately post Hurricane Katrina for example was understandable but resulted in politically costly censure. 6 http://www.iridium.com/about/IridiumNEXT.aspx. Making Telecoms Work Cellular operators would do well to review their service offerings for the public-safety sector and ensure that these sectors are at least adequately represented in their overall customer mix. Just focusing on consumer and corporate users and/or consumer and corporate applications is probably not wise either financially or politically in the present unstable world climate. This suggests an opportunity for cellular operators to work with satellite service providers on integrated