Over
the past year there has been significant growth in both the usage rates of
in-flight broadband and number of planes deployed. With new providers now
entering the market, growth is sure to continue in the coming year.
Additionally,
what has been a US-centric market began to see an expansion of borders with
deployments in Europe growing over the past year and new activity in the Middle
East. In-flight Wi-Fi revenues will surpass the $1.5 billion mark in 2015,
according to In-Stat.
Take
rates have increased significantly, moving from an average of 4 percent in 2010
up to 7 percent in 2011.
While
in international markets in-flight broadband is just entering the competitive
differentiator stage, In-Stat believes it will rapidly transition to a
competitive requirement in these markets as it did in the US.
Combined,
smartphones and tablets are now the predominant devices, in terms of percent of
connects.
In-flight
broadband providers are beginning to introduce new revenue opportunities,
including additional passenger services (video and voice) and operational
services.
While
airlines initially viewed in-flight broadband as a competitive differentiator,
it is now simply viewed in the US market as a competitive requirement,” said
Amy Cravens, senior analyst at In-Stat.
The
future of in-flight Wi-Fi will be less about convincing airlines of the merit
and more about leveraging the network to provide a broader breadth of services.
As in the hotspot market, Wi-Fi access is likely to become a commodity in the
in-flight market, with the revenue opportunity resting on the services and
features, not the connection,” Cravens added.
By
Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com