Gogo Unveils 5G Network for In-flight-Use

Gogo,an American internet company,has been working on 5G services for airplanes in North America. The services will be deployed by 2021. According to the company, the new 5G services will boost in-flight Wi-Fi in smaller regional jets of different companies, business jets, and smaller commercial airlines across Canada and The US.

The 5G services will be installed onto the existing towers that Gogo currently leases to power its air-to-ground (ATG) service. As learned from the company’s latest financial reports, predominantly, these grounds provide internet connections to most of the commercial airlines which are equipped by Gogo.

The aircraft will get the new 5G connections via a combination of the unlicensed 2.4GHz spectrum, a modem, and advanced beamforming technology. In a bid to future-proof, it’s potential to boost speed and bandwidth as 5G technology evolves;  the company will support all types of the spectrum such as licensed, unlicensed, and shared including bands (low, mid, high).

Furthermore, in case of any problem in the current 5G-equipped aircraft, they can still use Gogo’s 3G and 4G connections.

While responding to an email to The Verge, Dave Mellin, Director of Gogo said, in the beginning, only a few towers will be used for testing the 5G connections. Mr. Mellin did not provide any information about the testing date.

In the last couple of years, the Chicago-based company has been working on connecting the internet via satellites, and a rather rapid clip to aircraft.