Sub-Saharan Africans will soon be able to connect to the Internet pretty-much anywhere they are – even while on a domestic or long-haul flight – thanks to a new technology announcement from WirelessG, the company behind SA’s first converged, pre-paid Internet product, G-Connect.

While the technology that will enable in-flight Internet services is depending on Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approval, it will be provided through an exclusive agreement with US-based Row 44 who is already successfully offering in-flight Wi-Fi Internet to Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and in 2010, through Norwegian Air Shuttle. After extensive testing in the US, the first complete set of hardware will arrive in South Africa shortly. This will be used to setup a ground-based proof of concept (POC) here in South Africa to test the complete solution including the Satellites that will be used for the commercial product.

WirelessG also holds an exclusive agreement for the African continent, but are still investigating options to see how soon, and to which extent they will be able to provide in-flight Wi-Fi into Africa and is actively investigating potential airline prospects to identify valuable business partners.

Carel van der Merwe, CEO of WirelessG, says the company is already in negotiations with local airlines, and while the solution is already in POC phase, no information is being released as to which carrier will launch the service first.

Because Row 44’s in-flight broadband system is satellite-based and leverages the extensive Hughes satelllite network, WirelessG and Row 44 will be able to provide African airlines’ passengers with uninterrupted high-speed connectivity in-flight, no matter where they fly—including flights across multiple countries and over water.

WirelessG has successfully integrated its converged billing platform to this new technological environment. This platform, which has undergone extensive testing against the WirelessG converged billing service, will connect via satellite to provide a full range of Internet services such as web browsing, email access, VPN connectivity and web-based SMS.
Van der Merwe says the new solution will dovetail perfectly into G-Connect’s current converged Internet solution and extend the ADSL, Wi-Fi hotspot and 3G Internet access currently on offer from the service into the cloud.

The in-flight Internet service will be available to all passengers on participating flights for a fee, while G-Connect users can benefit from the service as they will be able to use their current G-Connect accounts onboard the aircraft.

“With the G-Connect sign-up process being free of cost and contracts, we are expecting many travelers to utilise the advantage of our in-flight offering,” says van der Merwe.

“We have always focused on innovating within the telecoms space in order to provide increased value to our customers. We were the first provider to offer a 3-in-1 service (ADSL, 3G, Wi-Fi), and a wallet for managing connectivity spend. All that is required now, is to legitimise the US approved Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) through the South African CAA. Once we have received this approval, we are able to launch the POC aircrafts and then be the first to offer in-flight Internet access in Africa,” explains van der Merwe. “Being able to provide such a highly necessary and useful product, makes us really proud.”

“WirelessG has built the dominant Wi-Fi hotspot presence across Africa and maintains agreements that extend its services globally,” said Frederick St.Amour, Row 44’s Vice President of Business Development. “By extending its coverage to aircraft in flight, they continue to demonstrate the innovation and leadership for which they are well known. As a result, air travelers in Africa will enjoy in-flight broadband services much sooner than they would have otherwise. Row 44 is thrilled to join forces with WirelessG to bring a wide range of connectivity services to the African skies.”

JBB Research recently shared their 10 predictions for the African wireless market in 2010 with Bandwidth blog -

1. Mobile entertainment services set to remain African carriers’ top priority to offset the continued decline of their total ARPU. In 2009, many African carriers experienced a decline of their total ARPU due to increase pricing war. I expect this trend to continue. Thus, African carriers will continue to focus on mobile data services to offset the decline of their total ARPU.

2. 2010 set to be a critical year for Mobile advertising space in Africa. 2010 World Cup Set to Be a Key driver. As mobile web and mobile payment continue to gain traction in Africa, 2010 should see the emergence of innovative mobile advertising concepts in Africa. I expect to see more African carriers focusing on mobile advertising concepts going beyond traditional SMS-based campaigns. WAP banner ads, MMS-based campaigns and ad-funded or ad-supported services/content embedded with value-added features/capabilities like mobile LBS, commerce, (e.g. mobile coupons), widgets, social networking, will start to gain traction in 2010. In South Africa, the 2010 World Cup is set to be a key driver here.

3. Scheduled rollout of first LTE networks in Africa in 2010 set to improve user experience and drive mobile entertainment content/service adoption. As African carriers continue to upgrade their network to 4G technologies (e.g. WiMAX, LTE), users will be able to enjoy a better user experience while using mobile entertainment services as those services will run on faster networks like LTE or WiMAX. African carriers in countries like South Africa and Libya are scheduled to start rolling out their LTE network in 2010. This should help further drive mobile entertainment services usage.

4. Various 4G strategies likely to emerge in 2010. While LTE is set to be the flavor of choice for many carriers at the world level, this might be a different story in Africa. Some African carriers will decide to focus primarily on WiMAX or LTE while others will choose a dual approach (WiMAX-LTE).

5. Improving billing mechanisms and content delivery set to be a top priority for African carriers in 2010. In 2010, more African carriers will start forging strategic partnerships with third party companies specialized in billing mechanism and content delivery. By doing so, carriers will be able to do a better job at differentiating their mobile content products and services, and delivery mechanisms, instead of simply differentiating themselves on pricing and voice quality. That being said, improving customer care, while preventing revenue leakage issues, and adopting more robust mobile entertainment platforms, will remain some of African carriers’ top priorities.

6. Mobile blogging/mobile social networking set to become a key theme among African carriers in 2010. As camera phones continue to gain significant traction in Africa, I expect simple and enhanced chat services, mobile blogging applications, and picture uploading services to experience one of the fastest adoption growths in the African mobile entertainment services/content market.

7. Local content, another key priority for African carriers to attract new customers and drive mobile entertainment adoption. While voice services are set to remain the key purchasing factor, and “king” for most carriers, in 2010, African carriers and application developers will start to provide more local content. To do so, I expect to see more African carriers partnering with local content and mobile app providers.

8. Mobile payment services set to become more affordable and capable, embedded with new value added features. I expect to see the emergence of more affordable and capable mobile payment services in Africa. In 2010, I also expect to see more African carriers offering mobile payment services, which can work across various carriers and countries, and allow customers to make international money transfers. Nokia’s scheduled entry in the African mobile payment market in 2010 is set to play a key role here. Lastly, I expect to see new carriers in the North African regions jumping on the mobile payment bandwagon.

9. Feature phones set to become more capable. In 2010, I expect feature phones to become more capable, embedded with better picture/video recording and uploading, and Bluetooth capabilities, and full browsing technologies based on commercial web browsers from Opera. This should help further drive the mobile web adoption in Africa. Ultimately, it will also help further drive the adoption of web-based mobile entertainment services (e.g. mobile blogging).

10. 3G Smartphones and services set to become more affordable. I expect to see the emergence of more affordable 3G services and devices (BlackBerry devices, iPhone 3G, Android devices, etc) in Africa. As a result, this should help drive the adoption of mobile entertainment services/content in Africa.