In-flight broadband provider Gogo is to acquire the Airfone business unit from LiveTV, a subsidiary of US low-cost airline JetBlue that provides live television on its parent company’s fleet, for an undisclosed amount.
Gogo said that the main reason…
In-flight broadband provider Gogo is to acquire the Airfone business unit from LiveTV, a subsidiary of US low-cost airline JetBlue that provides live television on its parent company’s fleet, for an undisclosed amount.
Gogo said that the main reason for the acquisition was that it would give the company a 1 MHz spectrum licence to offer in-flight broadband services over the United States. Gogo plans to add this spectrum to its existing 3 MHz licence in order to enhance its air-to-ground network, which it uses for domestic flights.
In addition to acquiring the 1 MHz spectrum licence, Gogo also will acquire all of the network infrastructure and back-office operational assets of Airfone.
The transaction is subject to approval by the FCC and is currently under review. If approved by the FCC, the deal is expected to close later this year.
Gogo, which was formerly known as Aircell, has dominated the North American in-flight broadband market over the past couple of years, providing services to approximately 85% of internet-enabled domestic aircraft. The company has achieved this through a nationwide air-to-ground network of terrestrial cellular towers. Gogo is now looking beyond the US mainland and signed an MoU with Inmarsat to use capacity on the satellite operator’s forthcoming Global Xpress constellation from 2013 onwards.
To fund this expansion, Gogo announced plans in December 2011 to raise US$100m via an IPO in the first half of 2012. The company hired Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and UBS as joint bookrunners on the offering.
