More Competition For WiFi In The Sky

from the not-a-two-horse-race-any-more... dept

It looks like the race for WiFi in the sky is getting a bit more crowded. For a while it has been a two horse race between Boeing's Connexion and Tenzing, which recently teamed up with Airbus. Amusingly, Connexion's successes have been in Europe while Tenzing's have been in the US, despite the opposite locations of the airplane builders they're tied to. Connexion is a much more complete service, whereas the current Tenzing offering is quite limited (and quite expensive to use). Tenzing claims, however, that their service is much cheaper and easier to install, and the next generation (always the next generation, eh?) will be much more like real internet access. However, it looks like they may no longer be the only two players in this race to WiFi the sky. ARINC, makers of satellite broadband systems for business aircraft, is now looking to expand into the commercial airline industry, though they don't have any deals announced yet. A little competition would be good, as the traditional airlines still seem focused on their ability to price gouge a captive audience. Hopefully, some of the discount carriers (JetBlue?) will see some of these services as a way to differentiate and will push others forward on offering real, reasonably priced internet access in the sky.

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