Singapore Airlines to offer in-flight cellphone service

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 05 October 2010 16:44

Your IT - Mobility

Singapore Airlines has announced plans to offer Internet access via WiFi on board its aircraft and, possibly, the ability for cellphone users to both make and receive voice calls.

The service will be offered in collaboration with in-flight connectivity provider OnAir and will be rolled out from the first half of 2011 on the Airline's Airbus A380, Airbus A340-500 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Singapore Airlines, however, seems rather uncertain as to whether cellphone users will be able to make and receive voice calls, or simply exchange SMS messages. Its press release states: "The mobile telephony services will enable customers to send and receive SMS text messages with their GSM-compatible mobile phones, send and receive email messages easily on smartphones and Blackberry devices, and make and receive voice calls," but the latter function is qualified by a footnote: "to be reviewed prior to launch."

Should voice functionality be available, cellphone users will be charged for the calls by their normal service provider at international roaming rates. However, Singapore Airlines has not indicated whether special high roaming rates will apply: given that the calls are routed via Inmarsat satellite services, which are notoriously expensive (Telstra for example charges in excess of $20 per minute for calls from standard phones to Inmarsat's portable broadband satellite terminals).

For Internet access, customers will be able sign up for an access package during the flight, when they log in. Singapore Airlines says details of the charges will be announced closer to the launch.

Singapore Airlines claims it will be "the first major airline in Asia to launch a full suite of in-flight connectivity services." It has clearly decided that AirAsia does not qualify: OnAir announced only last week that it had launched in-flight connectivity services aboard AirAsia's Airbus A320s, saying "Passengers flying on South East Asian routes from Kuala Lumpur to destinations including Singapore, Hong-Kong, Bangkok or Colombo can now stay connected with their friends, family and business colleagues. Using their own GSM mobile phones or smartphones they can make and receive voice calls, send text messages or emails and access the Internet through GPRS."

OnAir is jointly owned by Airbus and SITA and has roaming agreements with about 200 telecommunications companies globally. It claims to provide the only air-travel industry sponsored in flight communications system for commercial airlines, private and corporate jets, Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and for long and short-haul flights.

It is the first provider of services based on SwiftBroadband, satellite technology from Inmarsat, which offers GSM and GPRS for voice, data and Internet. It lists airlines that either offer its services or plan to do so in the near future as being Afriqiyah Airways, AirAsia, British Airways, Egyptair, Hong Kong Airlines, Libyan Airlines, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, TAM and Wataniya Airways