In-Flight Broadband Expansion Heightens Global Impact of Satellite Industry, Say Satellite Execs

ViaSat began providing commercial service on aircraft after it received a blanket radio station authorization allowing it to provide in-flight Ka-band services (CD July 31 p18)), said Don Buchman, ViaSat director of mobile broadband. “Without that authority, we wouldn’t be able to sell commercial services on these aircraft via a mobile in-motion Ka antenna that’s talking to a geosynchronous satellite,” he said. ViaSat provides broadband service on JetBlue airlines through its Exede service, he said.

The Exede service already was deployed for business and private aviation, Buchman said. “What’s new is delivering it to a large cabin aircraft full of 150-plus passengers.” ViaSat had to ensure that its system adapted to the larger per aircraft demand, he said. ViaSat is undergoing a testing phase with United Airlines for half of its domestic fleet, he added.

Inmarsat’s forthcoming Ka-band network, Global Xpress, will be the company’s fifth-generation constellation, said Miranda Mills, aerospace vice president for Global Xpress. The network will provide connectivity for the maritime and aviation communities and government (CD April 12 p5). For commercial aviation, seamless transition when flying between regions is key, she said. Reliability and coverage are the two major frustrations that passengers have with in-flight broadband, Mills said. Inmarsat is including a “make before break” design feature in the terminals aboard the aircraft, she said. “The terminal isn’t allowed to drop a signal from one satellite spot beam until it has successfully connected to the next one,” which prevents the connectivity from dropping off, she said. “When you're on the Internet, you don’t suddenly go dead, the phone doesn’t die on you, [and] the TV doesn’t suddenly pixelate.” The first satellite was launched last month (CD Dec 4 p16). All three satellites in the constellation will be launched this year, she said.

Intelsat’s planned constellation of EpicNG high-throughput satellites will have a key role in providing aeronautical broadband services, said James Collett, director-mobility services product management. The first satellite is to be launched next year (CD May 13 p19). Panasonic Avionics will provide in-flight broadband using the EpicNG platform. Intelsat also has partnerships with airplane broadband service providers Row 44 and Gogo for Intelsat’s Ku-band capacity, Collett said. “All of the three service providers made commitments to significant global Ku-band networks that use the Intelsat network.” They're actively marketing to airlines, he added.

Row 44 ensures that the system is available to the users and can be maintained to offer a good user experience, said John Guidon, chief technology officer for Global Eagle, owner of Row 44. A system that is highly monitored is key, he said: “We do a tremendous amount of monitoring of everything on our system.” It also is important “to make sure that there’s a business model where the airline doesn’t suffer at the expense of offering the service,” he said.

Commercial airlines are realizing the demand for in-flight services for their passengers, the satellite executives said. Commercial wide- and narrow-body aircraft companies have shown interest in Global Xpress, Mills said. “Their interest is in the technology,” and they're trying to understand how it would work for their passengers, she said. Inmarsat already is providing cockpit services for major airlines, she added.

While the rate of airlines installing the necessary equipment has been pretty brisk in the U.S., the rate at which passengers are using the service has been “kind of a dismal failure,” Buchman said. There’s a demand to use the service, but right now the offerings aren’t allowing that, he said. JetBlue is offering a fast experience for free and the take-rate there has been high, he said: “On some flights we're seeing almost as many devices online as there are people on the plane.” There are many passengers who don’t know that this service is possible, Mills said. In the U.S. through the air-to-ground system, there has been a pick-up in the market, she said. There’s a higher market awareness in the U.S. than in other parts of the world, she said. Some of Inmarsat’s customers are offering services with take-up rates of nearly 20 percent on A380 aircraft, Mills added.

Advancements in connectivity in the air are affecting the global satellite industry, the executives said. The mobility domains of aeronautical and maritime are becoming increasingly important business areas for satellite network operators such as Intelsat, Collett said. “Satellite will continue to have a unique role in providing connectivity in certain environments.” The aeronautical environment “is one of those environments where not only do we see a healthy and long future for satellite services, but also we see demand growing particularly because of the desire for passengers to be connected,” he added.

It’s a change in the satellite systems, Buchman said. Over the past 30 years, there have been applications for video and entertainment that have driven expansion, he said. Mobility is “the next big thing that’s going to drive this industry in general,” he said. Changes in the regulatory sphere, like the Federal Aviation Administration’s lifting of the ban on on-board use of mobile devices (CD Nov 1 p1), also will contribute to the industry’s impact, the executives said. “Anything that makes it easier for passengers to use that device is going to be good from our perspective in terms of increasing demand for our services,” said Collett. “Steps like that will mean that the take-up of in-flight Wi-Fi services will be higher … We think those changes are very consistent with the more macro-social factors that are out there in terms of the way people want to use their electronic devices and be connected."

The FAA rule change is “a good thing for the industry,” said Buchman. “As a service provider, it’s important to get people to not only know it’s there but also reduce friction in actually using the system for the entire flight,” he said. For shorter flights above 10,000 feet, “a one-hour flight normally may have 25 minutes of usable time, but if you're going gate-to-gate, you can be connected during the entire flight,” he said. “We want as many people on the aircraft engaged in and using the systems as possible.”