As airlines around the world continue to accelerate deployments of in-flight wireless networks, ip.access and AeroMobile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Panasonic Avioncs, celebrate the 10th anniversary of their technology partnership that has helped bring wireless connectivity, including voice, SMS and data, to tens of millions of airline passengers.
The ip.access and AeroMobile collaboration to deliver in-flight cellular connectivity solutions was initially based on ip.access 2G small cells and more recently through the introduction of the ip.access end-to-end solution for 3.5G small cells. Delivering a 3.5G service in-flight (over satellite) presents a number of challenges all of which were overcome through a strong technical partnership between ip.access and Panasonic Avionics and AeroMobile.
AeroMobile was the first provider to introduce 3.5G in-flight connectivity back in December 2015 and now over half of its partnered airlines offer aircraft with 3.5G. The AeroMobile service allows passengers to use their own mobile devices to call, text and browse the internet in-flight, and has 350 roaming agreements in more than 150 countries.
Malcolm Gordon, CEO, ip.access, commented: “We have always been at the forefront of the in-flight cellular communications market, and our partnership with Panasonic and AeroMobile is a great demonstration of what is possible with our versatile small cell solutions. We are extremely proud to be able to deliver 5 bar cellular coverage to AeroMobile’s users at all times and we are already looking ahead to bringing more advanced LTE services to airlines in future.”
Kevin Rogers, CEO, AeroMobile, said: “ip.access has been instrumental in the development of our network and our business in the last 10 years. As our network keeps growing, our partnership with ip.access will be crucial to ensuring that we continue to lead the way for in-flight connectivity.”
