> News >  

    RebelRoam to Launch App Enabling Airlines to Offer Free In-Flight Messaging

    October 31, 2018  | Written by Ari Magnusson
    Author Photo

    Share

    Image: Daniel McCollough

    RebelRoam will launch an app that allows airlines to easily offer a “messaging only” in-flight connectivity option for passengers. APEX Media spoke to the company’s CEO Henri Ploom about what sets the product apart from other solutions.

    RebelRoam announced it will launch a cross-platform in-flight connectivity (IFC) solution to enable airlines to offer a “messaging only” connectivity option to passengers.

    Following the launch of the RebelRocket app at APEX EXPO in September, the company said airlines had indicated that unless they could offer in-flight Wi-Fi without surcharge to passengers, IFC business models would struggle. Single-digit in-flight Wi-Fi take rates serve as proof of this, despite the increasing availability of high throughput services, the company said. As a first step toward offering complimentary Wi-Fi that enables streaming, airlines “should start with something more attainable, like free in-flight messaging,” RebelRoam said in a press release.

    “The roadmap to free in-flight connectivity cannot be a giant leap, it is going to have to evolve naturally.” – Henri Ploom, RebelRocket

    “The roadmap to free in-flight connectivity cannot be a giant leap, it is going to have to evolve naturally. As a next step, we suggest the adoption of free in-flight messaging, which is a way for airlines to provide what the passengers want and at the same time save on costs,” Henri Ploom, RebelRocket’s CEO, told APEX Media.

    The Estonia-based company said its RebelRocket Messaging Only app connector technology is IFC agnostic and can be integrated into existing airline loyalty apps, or used as a standalone app. “It is a more narrowly configured version of the RebelRocket App. Kind of a stepping stone on the path to full experience, keeping in mind the possibility of a later upgrade,” Ploom said.

    While some airlines already offer so-called Surf and Stream packages to passengers, Ploom explained that there is actually no standardized method for limiting what web content passengers can access. Instead, airlines often throttle bandwidth, cap data limits per passenger, set time limits or combine all three methods.

    “Surf and Stream packages usually only differ by speed. This is problematic, because a user device may in the background do stuff like syncing photos to cloud or something similar, which rakes up the cost for airlines who need to pay for the consumed volume,” Ploom explained. By contrast, RebelRoam’s content filtering technology, he said, enables a true messaging-only connectivity tier, where all traffic, other than from messaging apps, can be blocked.

    The company said it has scheduled two-week trials with several airlines and expects to announce a product launch customer before the end of the year.