AIRCELL PREDICTS LAUNCH OF BROADBAND ON PLANES NEXT SUMMER

摘要

AirCell hopes for final clearance at the FCC this summer, with FAA approval to follow, as it works through assorted regulatory issues on the way to offering wireless broadband on commercial flights. Rollout of the service is expected in Aug. 2007, it said. AirCell was the high bidder for a 3 MHz license to offer broadband on planes, in an auction that ended in early June. AirCell beat, among others, Verizon Airfone, which subsequently announced it would pull its phones from commercial airplanes by the end of the year. AirCell just completed an FCC-imposed 搎uiet period,?which followed the auction, and company officials are now free to discuss their plans in more detail. Bill Gordon, vp-regulatory affairs at AirCell, told us Thurs. he doesn抰 anticipate problems as his company clears the last regulatory hurdles: 揂s long as there are no complications, and I just can抰 imagine that we抣l see any, I抦 hoping that we抣l have a [FCC] license by the end of August.?nn? Airlines are very interested in offering Wi-Fi,?said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry expert at Forrester Research: 揟heir key concern remains the business model. Can they make money on this? Will the equipment be able to be installed relatively quickly? Is [equipment] lightweight where it won抰 present a weight penalty? That has been a concern with Connexion by Boeing.?He also said that, given the price of jet fuel, the airlines that work with Verizon are anxious for contracts to end so that they can rip out that equipment, in some cases to be replaced by broadband.