With cell phones now an inseparable part of our existence, oftentimes air travelers often feel uneasy without being able to communicate while in flight.
There are, of course, options for on-flight communication, but they happen to be prohibitively expensive. But ASiQ Limited is all set to change that for the frequent air-travelers, as it recently announced the release of “the world’s first” aircraft Bluetooth Access Point ( News - Alert), which is going to deliver inflight Mobile Phone Services.
According to Ron Chapman, ASiQ’s CEO, Bluetooth chipsets are going to dominate the communication markets in the upcoming years.
“ABI Research ( News - Alert) reports that nearly 2 billion Bluetooth chipsets are forecast to ship in 2014 alone. More than half will be found in wireless handsets. In 2014, Bluetooth will be found in 70 percent of all handsets and 83 percent of all netbooks,” Chapman said.
ASiQ limited is all set to cash in the trend by providing a more cost-effective communication option to the frequent air-travelers.
“up until now passengers have only had very expensive options for in flight mobile phone communications however, with the evolution of our SafeCell App, combined with our new Bluetooth Access Point, airlines will now be able to offer their passengers affordable SMS, MMS, voice messaging and text email on the popular device of choice, the mobile phone. Better still SafeCell eliminates GSM roaming charges, as it does not require a GSM Picocell ( News - Alert) connection to deliver its services,” the ASiQ CEO informed.
Operating as a Personal Area Network (PAN), Bluetooth access points prove to be more efficient than Wi-Fi. PAN does not also involve the Wi-Fi’s expensive and cumbersome process of connecting to the internet, in order to establish a link. It features SafeCell App which makes a unique innovation. Here the file sizes are so small, even a narrow band satellite link can accommodate the basic texting needs of every passenger. Additionally, Bluetooth is capable of transmitting at up to 3 megabits per second. This means it can accommodate any data or media requirement.
With ASiQ’s proprietary PAN design, two access points can cover a narrow body aircraft such as a Boeing ( News - Alert) 737 or Airbus 320. This enables 192 mobiles to log on to an Access Point. With this, every passenger onboard the aircraft, will be able to take advantage of the access point.
The ASiQ CEO believes in the enormous potentials of Bluetooth technology and he draws support from the latest ABI research, which states that by 2014, Bluetooth will be found in 70 percent of all handsets and 83 percent of all netbooks. Currently, less than 10 percent of mobiles have WiFi ( News - Alert), and this paves the way for the future dominance of Bluetooth is the mobile technology.
Madhubanti Rudra is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Marisa Torrieri
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