Iridium satellites to fall from the sky

Iridium is set to stop operating at one minute to midnight tonight, a process that could lead to a spectacular decommissioning of its 66 low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites.

The mobile satellite services (MSS) provider is over $5bn in the red, but it has failed to win customers or the approval of most industry watchers. Experts have stressed the company's reliance on voice in an increasingly data-centric market, and the ability for cellphone handsets to now roam around the world - a situation that wasn't foreseen when Iridium was conceived a decade ago.

There have been reports of a last minute bail out, but at the time of writing, these have not been confirmed. Now the satellites could be allowed to drop out of orbit and burn up on the earth's atmosphere.

Cellular pioneer, Craig McCaw, was at one time rumoured to be riding to the rescue, but that investment never materialised. McCaw already has stakes in Iridium rival ICO Global Communications and Internet-in-the-sky project, Teledesic.

Iridium Europe had no comment to make about an extension to its service, although a statement is possible from the US, later today.