Meeting Passenger Expectations for Bandwidth
Share
“Passengers are absolutely insatiable, they can’t get enough,” said Mary Kirby, speaking about IFE connectivity bandwidth. Kirby, the founder, editor and publisher of the Runway Girl Network, was moderating the final panel session of the Spring 2015 APEX TECH Conference.
Program rights are often overlooked in discussions about connectivity, said Kirby, and she first asked APEX Technical Committee chair Michael Childers to summarize the issues. “The inside of an aircraft is considered a public performance space,” said Childers. “Just because we want to do something [in-flight] doesn’t mean we can do it. Content providers are pretty clear about copyright enforcement.”
The race is clearly on to provide increased satellite bandwidth, and Kirby surveyed the panel’s connectivity services. ViaSat‘s Doug Poorman said, “We’re an internet company at this point. Our vision is that everyone will have a smartphone by 2020, and we want to service that demand with 500 mile wide spotbeams, providing 12 mb/s per passenger, per airplane, to any airline that wants to take it.”
Greg Montevideo of Panasonic Avionics, says that “some people are streaming, but like any network, it has to be managed. We have a global network, with High Throughput Satellites (HTS), our service will increase by five times in high density areas. Bandwidth is always going to be in demand.”
Iridium‘s Brian Pemberton outlined the Low Earth Satellite (LEO) company’s service. “Our position is to complement Ku/Ka technology, providing the platform for operational connectivity. We have fully global coverage with our new generation LEO satellite constellation, and we’re able to maintain connectivity when out of range of other geostationary satellite solutions,” said Pemberton.
Kirby challenged the panel, asking if a benchmark for quality of service should be established. Doug Poorman said, “The passenger’s happiness is the benchmark,” while Peter Lemme of JetwayNet replied with a question: “What do we have to deliver to satisfy the majority of people? We’re an order of magnitude slower in-flight than on the ground. What is good enough? As we deliver higher data rates, passengers are going to consume more.”
Looking at airlines’ connectivity pricing for passengers, Kirby asked if “free and fast will be a differentiator.” Mark Plecity of Inmarsat said, “It is, but it’s like ‘free bags.’ Some airlines do, some don’t. Each airline will establish its model.” Poorman added, “bandwidth economics is what we’re after, and free service is where it’s at.”