5th Jun 2014 07:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Inmarsat PLC Thursday announced plans to deploy in-flight passenger broadband services on planes across the European Union by around 2016, and said British Airways is in advanced discussions to be a launch customer for the product.
Inmarsat Chief Executive Rupert Pearce told Alliance News the new network will "transform the customer experience of flying in Europe".
The FTSE 250 satellite communications company's new network will deliver high-speed broadband internet connections to airline passengers at a level that is similar to what they can access on the ground.
Inmarsat is in advanced discussions with British Airways to be a launch customer for the product, and Kate Thornton, head of product and service at British Airways, said Inmarsat would be starting with UK domestic routes leading into the roll-out in Europe.
"British Airways absolutely want to be an anchor tenant, a launch customer for us, and we're absolutely delighted to have a company of that substance," Pearce said, "you can be confident that as this network gets deployed we'll be focused on the needs of our launch customers."
British Airways is part of International Consolidated Airlines Group, which also owns Spain's Iberia.
Outside of British Airways, Pearce confirmed that the company is in discussions with a number of other airlines, and said there had been strong interest in the new service.
Inmarsat has commissioned a new S-band satellite, which it will call Europasat, from French-Italian aerospace company Thales Alenia Space in combination with Hellas-Sat Consortium Ltd. The satellite is expected to be delivered for launch at the end of 2016, and the total cost of the construction and deployment of the satellite will be around USD200 million over a three year period.
The company said it plans to roll-out the broadband network "as soon as [it] can", although the process requires not only the deployment of the Europasat satellite, but the installation of a ground network, and regulatory approval from EU member states.
Inmarsat has already begun the licensing process with EU member states and said it has received strong support from many EU telecoms regulators, underpinning confidence that it can secure EU regulation. Once the company has secured the licences, it can start to deploy the terrestrial half of the network, which can be deployed more quickly than the satellite.
It said will invest in a ground component network across the EU, costing a further USD200 million to USD250 million over the next six years.
"The question we'll be asking regulators is whether they are comfortable with us deploying the terrestrial services over the terrestrial piece of the network earlier than the satellite goes into service," Pearce said. "I think there will be several countries that will be happy with that, others will want to wait for the satellite."
"I think its a realistic prospect that we'll see service beginning in some countries before the satellite is up and operating," Pearce said.
The ground network will handle heavy congestion at low costs, Pearce explained, whereas the satellite will extend coverage to areas where you wouldn't normally build a ground network, and provide back-up if anything happens to the ground network.
In terms of the timing for the overall deployment of the network, "2016 as a walking around metric is about right," Pearce told Alliance News.
The new network will work in conjunction with Inmarsat's existing Global Xpress satellite network.
"The two networks will be highly complimentary. The thing that makes the European transport market different is the amount of traffic in a very small area of the world. That market and the North American market have very dense groupings of aircraft in very dense traffic routes. They are much better served by hybrid satellite, terrestrial networks working together," Pearce said.
Alongside providing broadband capabilities, the satellite will also support emergency network services for public protection and disaster relief, Inmarsat said.
Shares in Inmarsat were trading up 0.3% at 720.50 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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