The New York Times reports today that Verizon’s AirFone service on airplanes will shut down before the end of the year. Airfone, which Verizon acquired when it bought GTE in 2000, has phones in about 1,000 planes operated by Continental, Delta, United Airlines and US Airways.
AirCell will likely supplant Airfone with a cheaper in-plane telephone/data service. AirCell won the FCC auction for the 800 Mhz frequencies earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Boeing on Thursday said it is evaluating the prospects for Connexion, its in-flight Internet venture, but declined to comment on a press report that the company may sell or close the unit, according to Reuters.
Boeing’s Connexion did not make a formal bid for the 4MHz spectrum in the 800MHz band now allocated to AirCell for in-plane voice and data communications.
The Wall Street Journal reported in Thursday’s editions that Boeing may dump Connexion, which has failed to turn a profit in six years.
“The company is evaluating Connexion to assess what’s best for both the business and our customers,” Boeing spokesman John Dern said.
“We know we have a useful product, but we’re trying to determine how good a business we have,” he said.
Citing people familiar with the situation, the Journal reported on Thursday that Boeing has queried a number of commercial-satellite operators and other potential suitors who might be interested in buying the business or becoming a major partner.
If a suitable deal could not be reached, Boeing would be prepared to shut Connexion down, even though the service works as advertised and is used by a handful of international airlines on long-haul flights, one of the sources said.
Boeing has not said how much it has invested in Connexion, but people familiar with the situation say it is about $1 billion, according to the Journal.
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus launched OnAir, a rival mobile phone-based service in 2005 using Inmarsat. OnAir will launch GSM and GPRS mobile phone services on some European flights next year.
Connexion antennas (right) were too big to fit anything smaller than widebody airliners and the original antenna used by Connexion reportedly had issues — like drag and dropped calls.
The Connexion antenna uses data from the aircraft’s inertial navigation system to establish a rough pointing direction before implementing a fine-tuning “step-tracking” process to lock on to the satellite.
The Seattle PI says the most detailed discussion have involved Luxembourg’s SES Global, the largest international commercial-satellite operator.
At least two other satellite firms: Inmarsat of London, which operates a rival mobile-broadband service, and Loral Space & Communications of New York are also possible suitors.
Inmarsat’s new Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) benefits from the new I-4 spot beam satellites with speeds up to 492 kbit/s. Connexion leases satellite capacity on several satellites in geostationary orbit.
Boeing may have become addicted to Uncle Sugar and unable to compete with the likes of Raysat (below) which offers two-way internet access and satellite television to SUVs.
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RaySat’s EagleRay 5.9″ high antenna, brings 2-way, in-motion capability to high speed trains while RaySat’s SpeedRay 3000 (above) promises similar benefits for consumers for an estimated $3,495 (available summer 2006).
Connexion was talking up the maritime business, a field dominated by Inmarsat of London, which is upgrading its fleet to include faster mobile broadband.
Carnival cruise ships are getting cellular phone service via Wireless Maritime Services, a joint venture with Cingular Wireless. Currently, only one Carnival ship, the Triumph, currently offers the service (above). SeaMobile, a Seattle based company, recently acquired their Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN).
Based in Miramar, Florida, MTN provides broadband connectivity to the mobile maritime industry using VSATs. Services include voice, data, corporate Internet and Internet cafes, compressed video, digital newspapers, an on-board television network and automated teller machines (ATMs) with installations on nearly 200 vessels today. A typical sea-to-land call costs about $9 or $10 per minute, but SeaMobile’s service takes that down to the $1.99 per minute range for calls to North America.
SeaMobile’s proprietary technology uses an IP/software solution that works with any type of wireless phone (GSM, GPRS or CDMA) used by the customer when accessing the SeaMobile network at sea. Its sister company, mFoundry has a mobile phone applications that can be downloaded to wireless subscriber phones allowing virtually anyone aboard any vessel at sea to use voice and data services available through their wireless home carrier, just as they would on land.
Venture capital for SeaMobile comes from Ignition Partners, which manages more than $1 billion, making it one of the biggest venture capital firms in the Pacific Northwest.
