Nelco, Intelsat partner to expand inflight connectivity albeit limited local demand

Tata Group-backed satellite services provider, Nelco Limited, announced a partnership with US-based satellite operator, Intelsat. This is Nelco’s second partnership of its kind to expand its in-flight connectivity services, after it announced a partnership in February 2020 with Japan-based Panasonic Avionics, to offer in-flight and maritime internet connectivity services in India. 

With this agreement, Intelsat will be able to offer internet connectivity in the Indian airspace to its customer airlines, which Nelco will provide. These will include international airlines, which previously had to switch off in-flight connectivity before entering Indian airspace. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, in August 2020, published draft guidelines that allowed airlines to offer in-flight connectivity — thus allowing airlines with the eligible technology to offer such services to customers. 

However, adoption of in-flight internet and connectivity services have so far been limited. As the ruling that allowed in-flight connectivity came just after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, industry experts stated that a sharp dip in operational profits of airlines, combined with the heavy cost of in-flight connectivity equipment and an unwillingness among customers to pay more for premium services aboard airplanes — have led to a very limited adoption of in-flight connectivity as of now. 

Among Indian airlines, the likes of SpiceJet and Vistara have announced in-flight connectivity services, but across a limited number of its aircrafts. For Vistara, the company offers connectivity to check emails and messages on a very small number of its aircrafts, while ‘Vistara World’, an infotainment suite, is offered on a larger number of its aircrafts as a limited-access entertainment service. 

According to the joint statement issued by Nelco and Intelsat, the in-flight connectivity service offered as a result of the partnership between the two would be offered to all domestic airlines as well. However, at the time of publishing, Nelco-Intelsat did not reveal any interest that they may have received from domestic airlines to avail their service. 

The services are available immediately, and expands Nelco’s inflight connectivity portfolio by adding a new satellite operator alongside Panasonic.