The airborne market is potentially a lucrative one for satellite companies with satellite players eager to play a part in building the technology that will allow airlines and military customers to have access to broadband services in aircraft. Tecom has selected Wavestream as core supplier for high performance transceivers used in Tecom’s antenna system solutions for in-flight high speed broadband connectivity on commercial airlines and its military aerospace communications applications.

Gilat Satellite Networks Vice President of Research and Development Gai Berkovich told Satellite Today Insider that Gilat sees good opportunities in the airborne market. He says, “An area where I see advances is the airborne market, both commercial such as Internet access for airlines and government relating to video uplinks from UAVs. Today this is still a nascent market but it is fast growing and there is a lot of technological innovation. I think that integrated solutions, such as Gilat’s which includes modem, antenna and BUC, will offer more compact solutions that can be used in very small planes and UAVs.”

Gilat’s acquisition of Wavestream was a key strategic move for the company. The operator announced the deal back in the beginning of 2010, and completed the deal later that year. Gilat acquired the company for an initial $130 million. The acquisition was made partly to give Gilat a better position in the defence market, a tough one to do business in given recent budget cuts. In its most recent results Gilat CEO Erez Antebi admitted this had been a “challenging” market for the company. “We continue to make progress in our Defense division, even while the macro defense industry remains challenging. We remain focused on our strategic growth segments of Ka and Satellite-on-the-Move, as well as our drive to increase profitability and generate cash,” he said.