In flight Internet: Intelsat and Panasonic to boldly go where Boeing failed

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 07 May 2008 01:06

Your IT - Home IT

Two years after Boeing canned its service offering broadband Internet access to airline passengers, global satellite operator Intelsat has teamed up with Panasonic to launch a similar service.

Intelsat and Panasonic Avionics Corporation have signed a multi-year service agreement to deliver Panasonic eXConnect "an advanced satellite transmission platform that will allow airline passengers the ability to access Internet-based information and entertainment."

The service will use Intelsat's existing GlobalConnex Network Broadband service which is available on Intelsat's global satellite fleet of 53 in-orbit satellites, and regional teleport facilities. By using Intelsat's existing infrastructure, Panasonic says it will be able to introduce eXConnect in key regions around the world, providing an efficient and cost effective means to scale the network capacity as demand grows.
 
It says that the service will support a wide range of applications useful to both the passengers and crew such as VPN, live television, shopping, streaming media, telemedicine, operational applications and personal devices integrated to the airline's in-flight entertainment systems. "With data rates comparable to ground public Wi-Fi hotspots, eXConnect offers airlines the opportunity to further differentiate their in-flight product with a valuable service to their passengers," according to Panasonic.
 
Boeing announced plans for its service, Connexion by Boeing, in April 2000 and the first commercial service was launched by Lufthansa in January 2003. It offered Internet connectivity for passengers on commercial airlines via their own laptops. When closure was announced in 2006, the service was available from almost a dozen airlines but not one US-based carrier, despite the prices making the service quite attractive: unlimited Internet access for the duration of a flight for $US26.95, $US17.95 for three hours; and $US9.95 for an hour.

Announcing the closure, Boeing chairman, president and CEO Jim McNerney, said: "Over the last six years, we have invested substantial time, resources and technology in Connexion by Boeing. Regrettably, the market for this service has not materialised as had been expected."

Commenting on Boeing's decision Telecom, Media and Finance Associates (TMF Associates), a US specialist mobile satellite services consulting firm, said that the market opportunity for in-flight communications would be much smaller than many analysts and consultants had been projecting.

It had predicted the shut down of the Connexion service several months earlier saying that backers of other systems would need to re-evaluate whether their business projections were simply too optimistic. However, it noted that "other consulting firms have continued to project that a multi-billion dollar market will be realised for in-flight passenger communications over the next five years."