Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile is currently working with seven
airline customers of Panasonic’s inflight Internet solution – Transaero,
Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Gulf Air, Turkish Airlines, American
Airlines and Etihad. The German company manages the Internet gateway and handles passenger billing
and customer support for Wi-Fi services. In the following interview
with the APEX editor’s blog Deutsche Telekom SVP multinational
corporations Martin Schlieker discusses how the firm plans to leverage
its broad experience in telecommunications to become a global leader in
“seamless” connectivity across the travel chain.
Why is Deutsche Telekom (DT) with its international brand T-Mobile uniquely placed to play a pivotal role in bringing inflight connectivity to passengers?
Around the world 131 million mobile customers and 50 million fixed customers trust in Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile as a reliable and innovative telecommunications company. Our international brand presence with more than 50,000 ‘HotSpots’, together with our significant and long-running experience in providing high-quality networks, forms the ideal basis for extending our business to aircraft.
We are the first global telecommunications company to provide seamless connectivity right across the travel chain – at home, on the train, at the airport, in the aircraft and in the hotel. Additionally, DT is one of the leading innovators in providing future-proof technology. Specifically in-flight, DT makes the high-speed surfing experience accessible for any type of user. Multiple payment options are available as well as a large number of roaming agreements around the globe.
Tell us about your partnership with Panasonic Avionics – how did it get started, and what does each party bring to the table?
Back in 2010 Lufthansa asked Panasonic to equip its entire long-haul fleet with Panasonics´ ‘eXConnect’ inflight Internet system [which forms the basis of its global communications suite (GCS)]. This was our starting point to step into a long-term strategic partnership, even extending the Lufthansa cooperation and targeting further airlines. To put it simply, Panasonic is responsible for the entire airline business, including the provision of hardware and equipment, technical support and service, as well as for the satellite capacity and so on. T-Mobile is in charge of the customer/passenger touch point. On the one hand, we are enabling the mass market with our 181 million residential customers, while on the other hand we also enable our business customers and their employees with customised solutions that provide flexible and easy access to Wi-Fi services.
It has been reported that you’re working with seven GCS customers: Transaero, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines, as well as new customers American Airlines and Etihad. Do you work one-on-one with each airline? What are your deliverables beyond providing passenger billing and customer support?
Panasonic and DT work closely together to service the needs of our airline customers. Our standard solution is modularly designed. With this flexible concept we are able to meet the bespoke needs of each airline, and provide customised solutions to meet their various requests. Aside from these core competences we are a network provider that boasts all of the latest state-of-the-art technologies, in-depth experience in marketing telecommunications services towards consumer and business customers, and excellent customer service. We want to make these assets available to any airline interested in this new service.
What other airlines are you poised to work with in the near-term?
Our goal is to become a global leader in seamless connectivity. Within the last three years – even as a “newcomer” – we positioned ourselves as a trusted partner in the airline industry. Together with our strong partner Panasonic we exceeded our targets and will shortly launch our Wi-Fi service with Aer Lingus, and Air France-KLM for a total of nine airline customers. And there will be additional announcements within the first half year 2013. We think this is a strong commitment from the industry towards Deutsche Telekom as a trusted partner with a strong international brand.
When you talk to airlines, what are their biggest concerns about installing inflight connectivity?
Airlines want to understand the needs of the market in terms of mobile connectivity in order to get a better understanding about the benefit of investing money [in inflight connectivity]. Our goal is to share our experiences, and show how much an airline can benefit by offering a high-speed Internet service in terms of meeting passenger demands and ensuring a direct and immediate return on investment. Additionally, airlines are concerned about whether the technology being offered in-flight can keep up with the trends and demands that passengers are used to experiencing on the ground.
And this is where DT with its long experience and internationally well-known brand really excels; airlines always feel more relaxed about our solution once they get a better feeling about how it’s a future-proof solution. Showing airlines how innovative and transnational is Deutsche Telekom under its T-Mobile brand completes the big picture with respect to the guarantee [to airlines] that both the partners and the technology will be the right choice to stay competitive.
More broadly, do you believe the airline industry has reached a watershed moment in terms of inflight connectivity equipage? Please explain.
What we see is that most of the airlines are recognising the need for offering high-speed Internet services for passengers in order to stay competitive, regardless of whether an airline positions itself as a low-cost or as a premium flag carrier. The need of the ‘always on’ generation is getting greater and greater. We as Deutsche Telekom have a very good insight and understanding about the entire Wi-Fi market and the future prospects and we strongly believe that offering this service above the clouds follows clear customer demands. That is one of the reasons why we are continuously investing in our technology and why we stepped into this business.
Do you think the industry will gravitate towards a free inflight Wi-Fi model or not? Please explain.
Generally free Wi-Fi is an exception rather than the rule, even on the ground. And even if the service is free-of-charge for the consumer, the service is generally funded one way or another e.g. sponsored, or advertising supported. We strongly believe that airlines especially can benefit [from inflight connectivity], and will have the opportunity to implement value-added services that customers are willing to pay for. Customers understand very well that this is a specific service, provided in a specific area. Therefore, most of the airlines are using the opportunity for connectivity as an additional revenue source. If an airline did wish to offer the service for free, Deutsche Telekom has various business models in place to support that request.
What type of usage rates are you seeing for inflight Wi-Fi?
Since we launched high-speed Internet access above the clouds the take up rates have increased significantly. We bring in a huge amount of customers and therefore we are reaching the so called “critical user mass” right from the beginning and each and every airline can benefit right from the start from this. It’s safe, it’s easy to use and the speed is the best you can get up in the air.
Do you believe passengers are becoming insatiable when it comes to eating up available bandwidth?
First of all we believe that the bandwidth we are providing today gives passengers an equal experience like on the ground. Due to the fact that the Ku-band [satellite] service is a scalable service we can proactively and quickly fit the need for further bandwidth. We set up a specific reporting that enables us to have a complete overview about usage rates and the market needs. According to several survey results, our customers validate the performance rates as excellent.
Are you open to partnering with other inflight connectivity providers in the future? Have you started any talks with other players?
As mentioned before we are very satisfied to have our strong partner Panasonic on our side. This is a long term and strategic partnership. There is no need to share our expertise with other suppliers.
http://blog.apex.aero/ife/deutsche-telekom-global-connectivity-leader-travel-chain/
Why is Deutsche Telekom (DT) with its international brand T-Mobile uniquely placed to play a pivotal role in bringing inflight connectivity to passengers?
Around the world 131 million mobile customers and 50 million fixed customers trust in Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile as a reliable and innovative telecommunications company. Our international brand presence with more than 50,000 ‘HotSpots’, together with our significant and long-running experience in providing high-quality networks, forms the ideal basis for extending our business to aircraft.
We are the first global telecommunications company to provide seamless connectivity right across the travel chain – at home, on the train, at the airport, in the aircraft and in the hotel. Additionally, DT is one of the leading innovators in providing future-proof technology. Specifically in-flight, DT makes the high-speed surfing experience accessible for any type of user. Multiple payment options are available as well as a large number of roaming agreements around the globe.
Tell us about your partnership with Panasonic Avionics – how did it get started, and what does each party bring to the table?
Back in 2010 Lufthansa asked Panasonic to equip its entire long-haul fleet with Panasonics´ ‘eXConnect’ inflight Internet system [which forms the basis of its global communications suite (GCS)]. This was our starting point to step into a long-term strategic partnership, even extending the Lufthansa cooperation and targeting further airlines. To put it simply, Panasonic is responsible for the entire airline business, including the provision of hardware and equipment, technical support and service, as well as for the satellite capacity and so on. T-Mobile is in charge of the customer/passenger touch point. On the one hand, we are enabling the mass market with our 181 million residential customers, while on the other hand we also enable our business customers and their employees with customised solutions that provide flexible and easy access to Wi-Fi services.
It has been reported that you’re working with seven GCS customers: Transaero, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines, as well as new customers American Airlines and Etihad. Do you work one-on-one with each airline? What are your deliverables beyond providing passenger billing and customer support?
Panasonic and DT work closely together to service the needs of our airline customers. Our standard solution is modularly designed. With this flexible concept we are able to meet the bespoke needs of each airline, and provide customised solutions to meet their various requests. Aside from these core competences we are a network provider that boasts all of the latest state-of-the-art technologies, in-depth experience in marketing telecommunications services towards consumer and business customers, and excellent customer service. We want to make these assets available to any airline interested in this new service.
What other airlines are you poised to work with in the near-term?
Our goal is to become a global leader in seamless connectivity. Within the last three years – even as a “newcomer” – we positioned ourselves as a trusted partner in the airline industry. Together with our strong partner Panasonic we exceeded our targets and will shortly launch our Wi-Fi service with Aer Lingus, and Air France-KLM for a total of nine airline customers. And there will be additional announcements within the first half year 2013. We think this is a strong commitment from the industry towards Deutsche Telekom as a trusted partner with a strong international brand.
When you talk to airlines, what are their biggest concerns about installing inflight connectivity?
Airlines want to understand the needs of the market in terms of mobile connectivity in order to get a better understanding about the benefit of investing money [in inflight connectivity]. Our goal is to share our experiences, and show how much an airline can benefit by offering a high-speed Internet service in terms of meeting passenger demands and ensuring a direct and immediate return on investment. Additionally, airlines are concerned about whether the technology being offered in-flight can keep up with the trends and demands that passengers are used to experiencing on the ground.
And this is where DT with its long experience and internationally well-known brand really excels; airlines always feel more relaxed about our solution once they get a better feeling about how it’s a future-proof solution. Showing airlines how innovative and transnational is Deutsche Telekom under its T-Mobile brand completes the big picture with respect to the guarantee [to airlines] that both the partners and the technology will be the right choice to stay competitive.
More broadly, do you believe the airline industry has reached a watershed moment in terms of inflight connectivity equipage? Please explain.
What we see is that most of the airlines are recognising the need for offering high-speed Internet services for passengers in order to stay competitive, regardless of whether an airline positions itself as a low-cost or as a premium flag carrier. The need of the ‘always on’ generation is getting greater and greater. We as Deutsche Telekom have a very good insight and understanding about the entire Wi-Fi market and the future prospects and we strongly believe that offering this service above the clouds follows clear customer demands. That is one of the reasons why we are continuously investing in our technology and why we stepped into this business.
Do you think the industry will gravitate towards a free inflight Wi-Fi model or not? Please explain.
Generally free Wi-Fi is an exception rather than the rule, even on the ground. And even if the service is free-of-charge for the consumer, the service is generally funded one way or another e.g. sponsored, or advertising supported. We strongly believe that airlines especially can benefit [from inflight connectivity], and will have the opportunity to implement value-added services that customers are willing to pay for. Customers understand very well that this is a specific service, provided in a specific area. Therefore, most of the airlines are using the opportunity for connectivity as an additional revenue source. If an airline did wish to offer the service for free, Deutsche Telekom has various business models in place to support that request.
What type of usage rates are you seeing for inflight Wi-Fi?
Since we launched high-speed Internet access above the clouds the take up rates have increased significantly. We bring in a huge amount of customers and therefore we are reaching the so called “critical user mass” right from the beginning and each and every airline can benefit right from the start from this. It’s safe, it’s easy to use and the speed is the best you can get up in the air.
Do you believe passengers are becoming insatiable when it comes to eating up available bandwidth?
First of all we believe that the bandwidth we are providing today gives passengers an equal experience like on the ground. Due to the fact that the Ku-band [satellite] service is a scalable service we can proactively and quickly fit the need for further bandwidth. We set up a specific reporting that enables us to have a complete overview about usage rates and the market needs. According to several survey results, our customers validate the performance rates as excellent.
Are you open to partnering with other inflight connectivity providers in the future? Have you started any talks with other players?
As mentioned before we are very satisfied to have our strong partner Panasonic on our side. This is a long term and strategic partnership. There is no need to share our expertise with other suppliers.
http://blog.apex.aero/ife/deutsche-telekom-global-connectivity-leader-travel-chain/
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