ARINC And Telenor Complete Successful Ground Testing Of In-Flight GSM

SPACEMART

The ARINC/Telenor Mobile Connectivity system makes use of existing satellite capability, operating over Inmarsat equipment already in use on thousands of the world's passenger aircraft. Photo credit: ARINC

Annapolis MD (SPX) Sep 17, 2004
In an industry breakthrough, ARINC Incorporated and Telenor today announced they have successfully completed ground tests of a new mobile phone technology for use by passengers on commercial airlines.

The companies are demonstrating their satellite-based solution at the World Airline Entertainment Association's 2004 conference, September 20-24 in Seattle, WA.

Significantly, the ARINC/Telenor Mobile Connectivity system makes use of existing satellite capability, operating over Inmarsat equipment already in use on thousands of the world's passenger aircraft.

The system works with GSM type mobile phones, a technology used by approximately 75% of the more than 1.5 billion mobile subscribers in the world.

A small 'picocell' system is located in the cabin, allowing passengers to use their phones in flight just as they do on the ground--for both voice and text messages.

"We have made a breakthrough in communicating today's complex mobile phone protocols over the Inmarsat SATCOM connection," stated Graham Lake, ARINC Vice President and Managing Director, Europe, Middle East & Africa.

"We accomplished this feat with newly-developed proprietary software. Ground tests were completed this month in Ireland with multiple simultaneous calls placed successfully through the satellite."

"We are very satisfied with completing the ground tests," noted Berit Svendsen, chief technical officer for Telenor.

"We still believe that the major value creation is extending a successful mobile network onboard aircraft. Telenor currently has more than 220 international roaming agreements, and our service will enable these subscribers to use their own mobile phones--with their own mobile subscriptions."

ARINC and Telenor are ready to offer the airlines a test program that includes a comprehensive, one-stop implementation package for the service and transparent billing to passengers' regular mobile accounts. The cost of a call is expected to be similar to existing international roaming rates on the ground.

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