Competition for in-flight mobile is heating up, as mobile satellite communication providers look to airlines to increase revenues after consolidating land and sea operations. Sales of in-flight mobile telephony will likely be driven by Middle Eastern carriers, after three regional airlines signed up for this service. Several other airlines are almost finished with negotiations to implement the service. Analysts say that, although the airline industry continues to review possible passenger issues, in-flight mobile telephony will become a permanent fixture on flights.
Samer Halawi, Vice President for Strategic and Corporate Development explained that as aviation continues to grow more airlines will use satellite service. He said “Today, about seven percent of our total revenue comes through the aviation sector and there’s more and more companies out there adopting our services.” Halawi said in-flight mobile telephony is an emerging segment with great potential, after Royal Jordanian, Oman Air, and Jazeera Airways jumped on board this year.
