Companies 'improve' in-flight broadband

Passengers using Aircell's in-flight mobilebroadband offering, Gogo, will now have an improved service, it has been announced.

ZTE USA and Qualcomm collaborated with Aircell to improve Gogo, which was first used on a number of American Airlines flights in August.

The system now uses ZTE's base stations and Qualcomm's aeroplane-mounted modems and is now better able to take the high speeds and altitudes of aircraft into account, resulting in a faster, cheaper and less complex service, the companies claimed.

Passengers using Gogo now have their Wi-Fi traffic sent via Qualcomm's aeroplane-mounted modems to ZTE's base stations dotted across the USA.

"By working closely with Aircell and Qualcomm, we were able to tap into the brightest [research and development] minds available to create the most cutting-edge and flexible networking platform," said Dr George Sun, ZTE USA chief executive.

"We look forward to working with Aircell and Qualcomm to scale the platform to support increasing demand and future expansion of the service."

Earlier this year, Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, hinted in an interview with Engadget that broadband and VoIP phones might appear on Virgin flights in the future.