Coming on the heels of the FCC's recent approval of the auctioning of spectrum space in the 800-MHz band that will allow for commercial air-to-ground telecom services, Verizon Airfone says it will step up efforts to bring in-flight wireless access for U.S.-based airlines by 2007. The company has been conducting tests in commercial planes for over a year, and plans call for passengers to have access to the Internet as well as applications such as streaming video, VoIP services, and corporate Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
As soon as all of the loose ends are tied up, you can bet many airlines will be clamoring to offer this service on their planes as a way to attract customers, especially those in business class.
1. If you read the FCC order, it's actually bad news. I have no idea (I need to talk to them) why Verizon Airfone is claiming 2007 launch when in the FCC order, they have won the right to have two full years following the auction in mid-2006 to transition off the 4 MHz of frequency they're using down to 1 MHz. It's pretty likely that auction winners won't have access to that 4 MHz until Verizon gives it up.
Posted at 6:08AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Glenn Fleishman