AT&T is no longer developing a Gogo competitor
Don't count on AT&T to make faster in-flight internet, as the carrier has just announced that it's no longer working on a Gogo competitor. Ma Bell first revealed its plans to develop an air-to-ground network that has comparable speeds to LTE in April this year. Unfortunately, the company's execs have changed their minds after reviewing their investment portfolio and cutting next year's budget by 14 percent. Travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt also said that one possible reason why the company decided to drop its in-flight WiFi plans is because most airlines are locked into long contracts with Gogo and other providers.
Spokesperson Fletcher Cook told the press in an email that AT&T's focusing its capital "on transformative investments, such as international and video" instead. Wondering what those "international and video" projects are exactly? While the company didn't specify anything, it recently got the ball rolling on a $2.5 billion deal to purchase Mexican telecom Iusacell, and it's been seeking approval from officials to buy DirecTV for $48.5 billion for a long time now. In addition, AT&T teamed up with the Chernin Group earlier this year to launch an online video platform and a service that offers on-demand TV channels, though we've yet to see either at this point in time.
[Image credit: GETTY/dell640]
