Short Burst Data Plans

Iridium SBD Pricing

Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) is ideal for tracking and IoT applications, such as animal tracking collars, connecting remote field workers and adventurers, fleet telematics, geological surveys, weather balloons and data buoys. Using a mesh of 66 satellites in Low Earth Orbit, the SBD service delivers real-time data anywhere in the world, including the polar regions.

Ground Control offers Iridium SBD airtime both as a prepaid tariff, and as an annual contract for companies planning a larger deployment of devices.

Tailored contracts that save you money

Most airtime plans are out of the box – and if your usage falls at the bottom end of a price bracket, you’re paying more than you need to. At Ground Control, we tailor our pricing plans to your specific needs, so you save money. These rates are available for any SBD device; it doesn’t have to have been purchased from Ground Control, and doesn’t have to be a Ground Control-manufactured SBD device.

The below pricing is representative – please get in touch with your data requirements and we’ll customize a quote for you.

Compatible with all Iridium SBD devices
  1. Contract term is 12 months unless specified
  2. Each message has a minimum billable size of 10 bytes
  3. Mailbox checks (Mobile Originated messages, with zero user bytes of data) are charged at £0.02
Example Plan:
Low Usage
Mid Usage
High Usage
Pricing Per Month:
£13.70
£31.97
£127.89
Inclusive Data:
5,000 bytes
25,000 bytes
250,000 bytes
Overage Rate:
£2.74 per 1,000 bytes
£1.46 per 1,000 bytes
£0.69 per 1,000 bytes
Pooling*:
£2.29 per month
£2.29 per month
£2.29 per month
Activation Fee:
£22.84
£27.41
£22.84
Suspension Fee:
£2.74
£2.74
£2.74
Termination Fee:
£13.70
£31.97
£127.89
SKU:
GC-SBD-5KB-1
GC-SBD-25KB-1
GC-SBD-250KB-1
Example Plan:
Low Usage
Mid Usage
High Usage
Pricing Per Month:
$15.75
$36.75
$147.00
Inclusive Data:
5,000 bytes
25,000 bytes
250,000 bytes
Overage Rate:
$3.15 per 1,000 bytes
$1.68 per 1,000 bytes
$0.79 per 1,000 bytes
Pooling*:
$2.63 per month
$2.63 per month
$2.63 per month
Activation Fee:
$26.25
$31.50
$26.25
Suspension Fee:
$3.15
$3.15
$3.15
Termination Fee:
$15.75
$36.75
$147.00
SKU:
GC-SBD-5KB-1
GC-SBD-25KB-1
GC-SBD-250KB-1

*If you choose a pooled plan, then all of your devices on this plan share a pool of data. E.g. if you have 10 devices on a 12KB plan, that gives you a total pool of 120 KB to use per month between all of your devices, before you are charged any overage fees.

No annual contract required

Prepaid SBD tariffs

Our pay-as-you-go tariffs offer great flexibility for development purposes, and are available for the RockBLOCK 9602 and RockBLOCK 9603 plug-and-play satellite transceivers, the RockSTAR personal tracking device, RockFLEET vehicle tracking device, and the RockAIR aircraft tracking device.

Line rental allows the SBD device to exchange information with the Iridium satellite network. Credits are used each time you transmit.

1. One credit is used per 50 bytes (or part thereof) of message sent or received
2. One credit is also used if you check your mailbox and there are no messages waiting (a mailbox check).
3. Line rental is paid in blocks of one month
4. You only pay for months in which you wish to use the device
5. No annual contract is required
6. Credits only expire if you don’t use your account at all for 12 months
7. Credits are pooled between all of the devices on your account

Line Rental
Running Costs
Device:
All RockBLOCKs
RockSTAR
RockFLEET
RockAIR / RockDASH
Pricing Per Month:
£13.00
£18.00
£18.00
£18.00
Basic Management System*:
n/a
n/a
n/a
CORE Management System*:
n/a
Hybrid Satellite / Cellular Service:
n/a
n/a
+ £10 per month
+ £10 per month
Device:
All RockBLOCKs
RockSTAR
RockFLEET
RockAIR / RockDASH
Pricing Per Month:
$17.00
$23.00
$23.00
$23.00
Basic Management System*:
n/a
n/a
n/a
CORE Management System*:
$6 upgrade
Hybrid Satellite / Cellular Service:
n/a
n/a
+ $13 per month
+ $13 per month
Bundle:
50 Credits
100 Credits
500 Credits
1,000 Credits
5,000 Credits
10,000 Credits
Per Credit:
£0.16
£0.145
£0.110
£0.099
£0.088
£0.077
Bundle Price:
£8.00
£14.50
£55.00
£99.00
£385.00
£660.00
Bundle:
50 Credits
100 Credits
500 Credits
1,000 Credits
5,000 Credits
10,000 Credits
Per Credit:
$0.20
$0.19
$0.14
$0.12
$0.10
$0.08
Bundle Price:
$10.00
$19.00
$69.00
$124.00
$482.00
$825.00

*The Basic management system is only applicable to RockBLOCKs. The CORE management system has more sophisticated functionality including geofencing capabilities.

Why buy airtime from Ground Control?

Tailored airtime plans that save you money

Most airtime plans are out of the box - and if your usage falls at the bottom end of a price bracket, you're paying more than you need to. At Ground Control, we tailor our pricing plans to your specific needs, so you never pay more than you need to.

Regular usage reviews to manage costs

Once you're with Ground Control, we'll proactively review your usage to make sure that you remain on the right plan for your requirements. This helps to ensure that you don't end up paying expensive overage costs for going out-of-plan.

Data pooling to reduce overage fees

Data pooling allows you to share data between all of your connected devices, significantly reducing the risk of incurring overage costs. With Cloudloop, you can see at a glance how much each device is using, and how much data remains in your current billing period.

Cloudloop to gain total control over your data

Cloudloop is our API-first, subscription, device and data management platform. Whether you log in online or leverage the API to integrate with your own applications, it will provide you with unparalleled insight and total control over your data usage.

100% pole to pole coverage

Iridium has 66 satellites in orbit, allowing coverage anywhere, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No other satellite network has truly global pole-to-pole coverage. Messages sent via Iridium take just seconds to reach you, via email or directly to your web service.

Devices to suit your needs

Ground Control offers a range of Short Burst Data Devices to suit your needs. Whether you’re on land, sea or air, transmitting data from remote locations for meteorological sensing or monitoring ocean drift patterns with data buoys, we have what you need.

Already have SBD airtime and want to switch?

Want to leverage Ground Control’s flexible tariffs, data pooling, and data management platform? Switching to Ground Control is easy.


• We need to know the IMEIs of the devices you have
• We’ll swap them on to Ground Control’s Cloudloop platform
• You simply deactivate your previous contract.

Learn More About Switching
Switch your SBD airtime to Ground Control

Get a quote for your airtime

Ground Control is a Tier 1 Iridium Reseller. We have been working with Iridium for over 10 years, and also design and build hardware like the RockBLOCK that uses Iridium SBD to communicate. In short, you're in safe hands.

Please get in touch for more information or to set up an account – we are here to help and assist. For large deployments, we are often able to create custom tariffs and pricing schemes, so don’t hesitate to ask.
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