Gogo Business Aviation has completed construction of its nationwide, 150-site Gogo 5G network in the USA. The 5G network now covers the contiguous United States and will expand into Canada beginning in 2023.
Gogo says its 5G network is expected to deliver ~25Mbps on average, with peak speeds in the 75-80Mbps range, and has been designed to deliver high throughput with very low latency to address the increasing demand for data-heavy interactive services such as video conferencing, live TV and gaming.
“Our team was tenacious and overcame a host of issues including Covid-19, weather, the supply chain, and geopolitical concerns, to build a new network of 150 towers nationwide – and they did it in less than 12 months,” said Sergio Aguirre, Gogo’s president and chief operating officer. “It’s remarkable what our network deployment and field operations teams have accomplished.”
The network can be accessed via Gogo’s Avance platform, which has multi-bearer capability and a software-centric design designed to help customers to future-proof their inflight connectivity, with easy upgrade paths to both Gogo 5G and Gogo’s global Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based product in the future.
Regarding antennas for the systems, the first-article Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the 5G belly-mounted MB13 antennas and the X3 (5G) LRU have been completed. Gogo says that STC will be amended once the 5G chip becomes available, which is expected to occur in mid-2023. The company is working closely with each of the business aviation original equipment manufacturers and several authorised Gogo dealers to develop additional STCs that will cover more than 30 aircraft models in the aftermarket or from the factory.
Customers who want Gogo 5G service can install the Avance L5 system with full 5G provisions (including the MB13 antennas) today, and operate on Gogo’s 4G network until the X3 LRU is available. Once the X3 is ready, it can be installed quickly and 5G service can begin immediately.
Gogo is offering incentives to customers who install the 5G provisional kit with the Avance L5. Customers who provision for 5G before 31st October, 2023 will receive a 100% rebate on the X3 5G LRU hardware upon full Gogo 5G installation completion and activation, if completed by 31st October, 2024.