MultiMedia Intelligence Forecasts In-Flight Broadband a Boom

Flying now means you’re not going to get a bag of peanuts, meals for the most part are a thing of the past, luggage costs extra, but wait—there’s news regarding in-flight broadband. According to MultiMedia Intelligence (MMI), in-flight broadband services is poised to grow to $936 million in 2012. Airlines recognize that with the cutbacks they need to invest in new entertainment services due to their potential for additional revenue generation. MMI anticipates that a launch of revenue service (initially trials, with full launches ensuing), the in-flight broadband market will debut and generate $6.6 million worldwide in passenger revenues in 2008. Currently there are two camps, and much debate, of in-flight broadband solution providers, those employing air-to-ground (ATG) technologies and those using satellite-based technologies. There is also division in the in-flight entertainment (IFE) market of whether to offer a less costly narrowband solution (such as LiveTV’s Internet solutions), or whether to deliver a more costly, but more robust and future-proof broadband solution—Scottsdale, Arizona