AirCell said it’s done testing its in-flight broadband technology...
AirCell said it’s done testing its in-flight broadband technology, which it says will cost “a fraction of similar systems that use satellites” to install and operate. In-flight broadband competitor Connexion by Boeing, a satellite-based system, said last week it…
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had completed its own tests. AirCell said low-cost U.S. airlines like the idea of in-flight wireless broadband, but find satellite-based systems too costly. If regulators approve, AirCell’s service will launch on U.S. airlines at prices akin to what passengers pay for Wi-Fi on the ground, firm officials said. AirCell would like to market in-flight broadband by 2007, assuming acquisition of a spectrum license from the FCC, they said. The Commission is circulating an order that would set rules for the next air-to-ground auction, to occur Q2 2006, sources at FCC said. Also in the works at the FCC: An Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Services (AMSS) licensing order intended to set the framework for an AMSS licensing regime. The regime is being designed to let satellite broadband and complementary services like in-flight telephony take to the skies without harming fixed satellite services grandfathered in the Ku-band. The AMSS rules will have a direct impact on Connexion by Boeing and competitor ARINC, an in-flight broadband provider that targets private business jets. The comment period after a Feb. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing AMSS rules has closed, and the FCC is assessing its options, an International Bureau spokeswoman said.