Airbus and others form cross-border alliance: 5G WiFi may become standard on airliners in the future
Feb. 28 - In-flight WiFi has become increasingly common on flights, but it's known to be extremely slow, expensive and have an inconsistent signal. Now, aircraft manufacturer Airbus, airline Delta has partnered with telecom giant Sprint, satellite industry startup OneWeb and India's Bharti Airtel Telecom to develop in-flight WiFi capable of 5G connection speeds.
The Seamless Airline Alliance was launched at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) on Sunday with the goal of enabling mobile operators to serve airline customers with the help of satellite technology. Delta said Gogo, which is currently providing communications services for it, will also join the alliance. Sprint Telecom also claimed earlier in the month that it plans to launch its 5G network in the first half of next year.
Current in-flight web service systems are expensive to install and require airlines to install bulky equipment. The coalition hopes to address many of these problems. In addition the alliance hopes to attract companies beyond the five initial members to join. This alliance will eliminate expensive costs and overcome the barriers faced in the purchase, installation and operation of data storage facilities," the alliance said in a statement. "
The WiFi connection will get high transmission speeds via satellite technology, which avoids the low connectivity of the signal being retransmitted from the ground to the air. The satellites will be built by OneWeb, and company creator Greg Wyler told the Wall Street Journal that the alliance hopes to create uniform hardware and operational standards for airlines and improve the Internet experience for passengers on planes.
Now if passengers on a plane want to browse the web, they have to make a choice about servers, each of which has a different cost. While it's cheaper to buy an internet connection directly on the plane, it costs $50 to use your laptop for internet access on every flight. In many cases, passengers will find that they are paying for a low-speed internet connection.
There are many reasons why it is known that you can't get a better internet connection on an airplane, such as hardware, government and aviation regulations, software, and competition between wireless and satellite companies. The goal of this alliance is to eliminate those problems by encouraging cooperation between satellites, startups, network operators and airlines.
But I'm afraid it will be a few years before we can get a faster Internet experience on commercial flights. OneWeb has secured funding from tech giant Richard Branson and will begin building satellites this year, with broadband services expected to be available sometime next year. In addition, 5G communication networks may not become standard on aircraft until after the end of 2020. (Passerby)