Panasonic stresses commitment to in-flight Internet solution

To say that Panasonic Avionics has been quiet about its Ku band-based connectivity solution would be a mighty understatement indeed.

Nary has a word been said about eXConnect since October, when the in-flight entertainment (IFE) giant revealed to me it was in advanced discussions with a launch customer for its portfolio of airborne broadband data communications, mobile phone services and live television.

The airline "wants a full global suite of services" including Panasonic's eXConnect high-speed connectivity solution, its eXPhone offering that supports AeroMobile's mobile phone service and eXTV television with "global coverage of those services", said Panasonic. It added: "We expect to announce this customer soon."

At that time, the rumour mill was abuzz that Qatar Airways had agreed to run a trial of eXConnect on a single Boeing 777 from August 2009. But according to one little birdie, that trial is apparently off and Qatar has decided to go with a GSM/GPRS only solution.

Let me stress that Panasonic has not substantiated any of these mumblings. It assures me that the company is still very much committed to its Global Communications Suite (GCS) and is "going full speed ahead" with discussions, developments and plans to roll out eXConnect.  

Additionally, Panasonic insists eXConnect is on track to begin flight testing this spring with a customer launch in the fall. That differs slightly from the company's previous forecast that a customer would launch the service in the summertime.

If a fall launch comes to fruition, it would occur three years after Panasonic announced plans to fill the void left by the demise of Connexion by Boeing. But who's counting?

Perhaps Brendan Gallagher puts it best in his Shephard piece: "Can Connectivity Come Good in 2009?" when he writes that Panasonic must be watching all the activity in the in-flight connectivity space (driven by Aircell, Row 44, LiveTV, AeroMobile and OnAir) "with weary resignation".

Key par:

"The California-based IFE giant has seen its timetable for the eXconnect broadband service hurtle to the right over the last two or three years amidst indications of some radical system rethinks. But the dust does seem to have begun to settle in the last 12 months with the naming of two key suppliers. Intelsat has been named as the satellite capacity supplier, and the EMS Technologies/Starling team as airborne antenna vendor. Trials with a North American airline are supposed to take place in the first half of next year."

Hmmm, I wonder who this North American airline might be. While we ponder that, here is Panasonic's explanation for being so quiet of late.

"We have not put out major press releases and stories as we are focusing on major milestones in development and deliverables. We still are in negotiations with several of our customers for full installation of the GCS service and hope to have those contracts finalized in the next few months," says a Panasonic spokeswoman.

"In our GCS suite we also offer a GSM/GPRS solution (eXPhone) that allows the passengers to connect their mobile devices. We are still very committed to the Ku-band based solution (eXConnect) which is a more extensive service that provides a wide range of applications useful to both passengers and crew. These applications include VPN, real-time television, shopping, streaming media, operational applications and personal device integration."