The firm has presented an argument for aviation companies to provide cellular coverage to its passengers.

It outlines the value of deploying small cells to improve the efficiency of in-flight connectivity with cellular coverage.

According to ip.access, to date, the focus for airlines has been on Wi-Fi, which is struggling to deliver the capacity that customers need and expect.

The firm claims providing 3G and 4G connectivity in-flight would radically increase the capacity of their wireless networks.

The firm suggests that Wi-Fi and cellular are complementary and can both be offered in-flight.

Ben Ash, sales manager, ip.access, writes:

“In the air the only choice customers have is Wi-Fi. But for those customers who need extra capacity, cellular must be added to the mix. This will make it far more realistic to support the number of passengers that want to use their wireless devices on-board, regardless of their bandwidth requirements.”

Ash believes airlines can also benefit with the potential to open up new revenue streams via mobile network operators as a small cell with spectrum sharing capabilities would allow all mobile networks to provide coverage to its customers on planes.

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