Article from BTNews 5 MARCH 2018
New era for inflight internet
A new partnership called the Seamless Air Alliance promising to “usher in a new era of innovation for airlines” has been set up by Airbus, Delta Air Lines, OneWeb, Sprint and Bharti Airtel (Airtel) aiming to make in-flight connectivity as fast, reliable, and cheap as it is on the ground.
The partners say by empowering member mobile operators to extend their services into airline cabins, the group will provide customers continuously via satellite technology with the same high-speed, low-latency connectivity from the ground to the air and back.
The alliance – which aims to attract additional industry operators beyond the five initial members – says the system will also reduce costs significantly for everyone involved while creating a “smooth, positive user experience”.
OneWeb founder and executive chairman Greg Wyler said it would also eliminate the immense costs and hurdles commonly associated with acquisition, installation, and operation of data access infrastructure.
This would be achieved by streamlining system integration and certification, providing open specifications for inter-operability, increasing accessibility for passengers, and enabling simple and integrated billing.
He added: “What if the best internet you ever experienced was in the air? Keeping this goal in mind, together we will enable an affordable and frictionless experience for passengers everywhere.”
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