erent resiliency advantages both over terrestrial only networks and other satellite networks. It was, and is, the first and only civilian low-earth orbit satellite system to implement intersatellite switching, reducing dependency on any single ground facility. Satellite Networks As a LEO (low-earth orbit) constellation), round-trip latency is 20 milliseconds, substantially lower than the 133 milliseconds of a MEO (medium earth) or the 500 milliseconds of a GEO (geostationary) satellite system. This makes speech and latency-sensitive data exchanges easier to support. Additionally, the satellites have proved to be significantly more robust than expected and continue to provide service across the US, Alaska, Hawaii, the Pacific Ocean (as an integral part of the now updated tsunami warning system) and other hard-to-reach parts of the world. Iridium therefore had a perhaps unexpected opportunity both politically and financially to justify new investment in a replacement constellation and updated service platforms, to nego- tiate innovative collaborative deals with other traditional and nontraditional service providers and possibly in the longer term to justify preferential access to new spectral allocations at L band between 1518 and 1675 MHz or S band between 1.97 and 2.69 GHz. Iridium and a number of other entities have similar plans. Iridium have executed on that opportunity with fully funded proposal to launch a new constellation. Whatever we write at this point will be out of date by the time you read it but essentially the new constellation (called NEXT) will do everything the old constellation did but better and with enhanced data and environmental sensing functionality. The best thing is to go to the Iridium NEXT6 web site to see what has happened. 16.17 The Impact of Changing Technology and a Changed and Changing Economic and Regulatory Climate - Common Interest Opportunities This opportunity has to be seen within the context of a substantially changed and changing economic and regulatory climate. Satellites 