SECAUCUS, NJ — When Boeing scrapped in August their plans to implement an in-flight broadband service called “Connexion,” it appeared that the future of VoIP service in Boeing aircraft was distant, at best.In an interview earlier this week, however, Panasonic representatives indicate that the company has revived the in-flight broadband effort, saying it plans to “take up where Connexion by Boeing left off,” according to Inflight Online.
Strategic marketing director for Panasonic, David Bruner, told Inflight Online that the company had “a complete system designed, developed and ready to go.” Bruner added that Panasonic was “determined to avoid one of the things that brought Connexion down – lack of an initial fleet big enough to assure acceptable pricing for the airlines.”
In order to assure a sufficient initial fleet size, Bruner said Panasonic has set a goal of securing contracts to cover a minimum of 500 aircraft in the next 60 days.
“We can’t drag our launch decision on until, say, February,” Bruner said. “There will inevitably be a dark period between the end of Connexion and the start of our service, and we want to keep that as short as possible.”
Bruner added that Panasonic already has 150 aircraft committed and he’s confident that they will meet their goal of 500. Bruner cautioned, however, that “if we’re falling badly short in 60 days’ time, we will not go.”
When Boeing dropped Connexion back in August, CEO Jim McNerney said that the “the market for this service has not materialized as had been expected,” but many observers at the time said the real problem lay in the service’s high cost and the relatively heavy onboard equipment that was required to run the service.
Bruner said Panasonic is determined not to see a repeat of what happened to Connexion, and has designed its system to avoid suffering the same fate.
“We’re intent on learning from what happened to Connexion,” said Bruner, adding that Panasonic’s onboard equipment is lighter and cheaper, and “our approach to buying transponder capacity is altogether more economical.”
“We think these advantages will persuade the airlines and that in a couple of months’ time we’ll be ready to go ahead,” Bruner said.
