Iridium (News - Alert) Communications Inc., a mobile satellite service (MSS) company offering coverage over the entire globe, has landed over 100 Iridium OpenPort broadband satellite terminals orders for deployment on commercial Spanish fishing vessels.

Javier Ormaechea, CEO of Zunibal (an Iridium service provider in Spain), noted that Spanish fishing captains prefer the Iridium OpenPort because of its global coverage. The coverage includes significant fisheries location in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Iridium OpenPort also has high-bandwidth data connections and economical prices for equipment and airtime.

According to Ormaechea, many operators of Spanish fishing vessels utilize Iridium OpenPort to meet the requirements of the new European Union (EU) regulations for electronic log keeping and reporting. The European Union has ordered all fishing fleets operated by member states to electronically send out daily catch, landing, trans-shipment, and sales reports to fishing authorities in an effort to replace traditional paper logbook reporting.

The e-logbook regulations came into effect for vessels that were over 24 meters in length on January 1, 2010. The European Union plans to extend the e-logbook regulations to vessels over 15 meters in length by July 1, 2011.

There are over 2,300 vessels in Spain (more than any other European country) that are subject to the e-logbook requirements of the European Union. Financial assistance is being offered by the Spanish government to vessel owners to compensate for the costs of purchasing and installing the equipment needed to comply with the e-logbook requirements.

Greg Ewert (News - Alert), the executive vice president of global distribution channels at Iridium Communications Inc., stated that Iridium is in the final stages of planning for Iridium NEXT. Iridium NEXT is the next-generation of satellites, which will take the place of the present 66-satellite constellation beginning in 2015. Iridium is expecting their present satellite network to carry on providing strong and reliable service until the new satellites are released.