American telecom carrier AT&T said it would offer 4G LTE wireless Internet to commercial flights in late 2015. It has tied up with Honeywell International.
The initiative will be a major challenge to Wi-Fi provider Gogo. AT&T does not talk about the speed of the Internet on commercial aeroplanes.
AT&T will start Internet service in the continental U.S. in 2015 for in-flight Wi-Fi Internet connections and entertainment, as well as for cockpit communications.
Itasca, Illinois-based Gogo has also tried to tap the broadband service market on more than 2,000 commercial aircraft and more than 2,000 business jets.
The Internet service will use ground-based antennas aimed skyward at receivers on planes, said AT&T Strategy Chief John Stankey. AT&T will use some of the Wireless Communications Service, or WCS, spectrum it acquired in 2012 to transmit the LTE signal to the planes.
AT&T plans to use ground-to-satellite antennas to cover areas not reached by ground-based antennas and also to eventually provide service outside the U.S.
Gogo, whose system of ground towers and mobile-phone spectrum has grabbed the largest share of the U.S. in-flight Internet market, charges customers fees such as $16 for all-day service or $5 for a one-hour pass, Bloomberg reported.
Honeywell Aerospace today said it will be the exclusive hardware provider of domestic air-to-ground communication for AT&T’s planned in-flight connectivity services.
Honeywell will build and deliver, on an exclusive basis, aircraft hardware needed to connect AT&T’s planned air-to-ground system in the U.S. This system can integrate with Honeywell’s GX and L-Band satellite systems, allowing true regional and potentially global connectivity for passengers, crew and operations personnel.
“Honeywell has established itself not only as a technology development leader, but as the company that fully understands consumers’ desires to stay connected whether at home, in the office or car, and in-flight through the Connected Aircraft,” said Tim Mahoney, president and CEO of Honeywell Aerospace.
