Close on the heels of the Indian Telecom Regulator giving their green light to inflight wifi internet connectivity being made available in Indian airspace, the first major news is already in, as if on cue.

The Business-Standard reported:

A go-ahead signal to in-flight connectivity from telecom regulator TRAI has sparked interest from major global players in the business.

Enthused by the decision, Illinois-based inflight-internet Company, Gogo has decided to enter India market. In the first stage, Gogo will open a technology development centre in Chennai which will be used for marketing initiatives with Indian airlines. Gogo provides in-flight wifi services to major airlines around the world including British Airways, American Airlines, Air Canada, Delta.

Of course, it would be important to have a service provider such as Gogo in India, from a passenger perspective too! Over the years, Gogo has been the market leader in providing B2C connectivity on planes in the USA, which is the biggest market I would imagine for Internet connectivity in the air.

Having said that, it is also important because Gogo worked on providing a solution that would fit the entire American market and not just one provider, bringing in internet packages which could be used across multiple flights and so on, making it cost-effective over a period of time to have internet on board.

I’m very happy that Gogo decided to explore India as a market and I wish them luck. Some other B2B players such as Honeywell are already around and exploring the market. I hope they make another testbed plane and I hope to hitch a ride on that!