SmartSky's ground-based remote radiohead for its next-generation air-to-ground network has received US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification. This marks another technical milestone for SmartSky and further progress toward the commercial launch of the high throughput, low latency network later this year for aviation operators and passengers.

“Deployment of the FCC-certified tower radios for our network, coupled with the availability of our shipset products (high-performance antennas, aircraft radios) gives our service partners and dealers great confidence to begin accepting orders," says SmartSky CEO David Helfgott. “We are already seeing increased interest and demand with the business aviation markets rebounding ahead of schedule in 2021. The timing is great as we plan for our commercial launch, and to be the leading catalyst for the advent of the connected aircraft market.

With ‘feature complete' status for the network hardware and software achieved and with existing tower and terrestrial network infrastructure in place, SmartSky is rapidly expanding its network. The opening of the southeast corridor earlier this spring operationalises its patent portfolio behind its 5G beamforming and spectrum re-use technologies, and brings powerful innovations for optimising the end-user inflight connectivity experience, as well as enabling advanced operational data sharing and augmented information exchange.

SmartSky's products and services will be available through a broad network of value-added-reseller (VAR) and installation partners, and include three differentiated, interrelated offerings: the best-in-class air-to-ground network; advanced shipset hardware for aircraft communications; and a transformational digital platform and application-layer, Skytelligence.