Intelsat has entered India’s untapped commercial airline market by partnering with the country’s satellite communication service provider, Nelco, to bring inflight connectivity (IFC) services to Indian skies.
The agreement aims to provide end-to-end broadband coverage on domestic and international airliners flying to or from Indian airports, as well as aircraft flying over the country.
“In addition to expanding our service coverage area for current customer airlines, our agreement with Nelco opens the possibility for Intelsat to serve India’s domestic airlines,” Intelsat president-commercial aviation Jeff Sare said. “This is a fast-growing airline market, and there is considerable untapped potential for IFC growth.”
Nelco has offered the aero IFC services for more than two years with plans to introduce them to more airlines in collaboration with its global partners. Nelco will provide the services using Intelsat’s IS-33e high throughput satellite. IS-33e was launched in 2016, providing C and Ku-band connectivity to parts of Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Intelsat’s IS-33e satellite is approved by Indian government regulators, paving the way for coverage with no interruptions or blackout zones.
An Intelsat spokesperson told Aviation Week that the service is available to end users now, which is being expanded on aircraft equipped to provide broadband, both flying in Indian air space and on flights to and from India.
