The FCC just set off a high-stakes battle between in-flight Wi-Fi providers
Skift Take
Any adoption of the proposal that the FCC will consider is by no means assured since the Satellite Industry Association has powerful backers with much clout in Washington.
Satellite-based Wi-Fi services such as Row44 and Panasonic Avionics, which power on-board wireless networks for Southwest and United, respectively, have a clear competitive advantage over air-to-ground networks because the satellite systems offer much greater capacity for travelers trying to stream video or access bulky emails.
But the Federal Communication Commission's decision last week to begin a public comment period over a Qualcomm proposal to vastly expand the bandwidth available for air-to-ground (ATG) networks to 500 MHz has touched off a battle between ATG and satellite Wi-Fi providers b
