MACH selected by AeroMobile for World’s First In-Flight Mobile Phone Service
Luxembourg, 15 November, 2006 – MACH, one of the leading providers of inter-operator solutions to the telecommunications and data industry worldwide, today announced that it has been selected as a partner by AeroMobile to support the deployment of the world’s first in-flight mobile service. MACH’s expertise in financial and data clearing services made the company the ideal choice for AeroMobile in this venture to bring mobile roaming to the skies.

Emirates, one of the world’s largest airlines with a state of the art fleet of aircraft, will be the first carrier to introduce the service. AeroMobile’s system works by installing a very low-powered base station on the aircraft to receive and transmit voice and data. The calls are linked to the ground using a satellite communications system installed on the plane. Callers will be able to use the aircraft system if their mobile provider has a roaming agreement with AeroMobile. Once the aircraft is airborne and has reached the required altitude, passengers can simply switch their mobile phone on to take advantage of this innovative system.

“Innovative services are at the heart of MACH’s business ethos and we feel privileged to be in partnership with AeroMobile for this pioneering concept to provide roaming in the air,” commented Martin Lippert, Chief Executive Officer at MACH. “Our partnership with AeroMobile demonstrates that there are endless opportunities for mobile operators to create new revenue streams from roaming services.”

Roaming in the air requires compliance with various legal and governmental regulations in countries over which the aircrafts fly, but it is also dependent on agreements with numerous mobile operators to accommodate the passengers’ particular subscription. AeroMobile chose to outsource the data and financial clearing and settlement with its network of roaming partners to MACH. This year, the company has already signed a number of roaming partnerships using MACH’s services.

Harald Simonsen, Wholesale Director for AeroMobile said: “AeroMobile's revenue comes from inbound roaming only. We knew from the outset that if our business model was going to be a success, AeroMobile would need a reliable partner with an accurate clearing and billing solution to handle our roaming agreements with our multiple roaming partners. We have undoubtedly benefited from MACH’s expertise and the comprehensive set of services it can provide for new entrants to the roaming arena.”
Lippert continued: “MACH has experience introducing mobile roaming on board ships and ferries to enable passengers make mobile phone calls while at sea instead of the more expensive satellite connections. We were able to use this experience to implement AeroMobile’s billing and data clearing – roaming for the skies.”

AeroMobile’s service will allow mobile users to stay in touch with family, friends or colleagues using voice and text messaging. The cabin crew can also control the system and select operating modes which can be especially useful for overnight flights when the text only operation mode can be used to ensure the privacy of passengers.

The system on the aircraft controls the power output of all mobile phones down to a minimum level allowing their safe use on board the plane. The technology has been designed to be fully compliant with airworthiness requirements and ground telecommunications regulations. AeroMobile is also in talks with a number of other major airlines to extend the service to passengers across the world.

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About MACH
MACH provides advanced inter-operator solutions to the telecommunications and data industry worldwide, assisting clients to develop and secure existing and new revenue streams. The company focuses on clearing and billing services within roaming, Interconnect as well as value added services, including business intelligence, revenue assurance, fraud detection, re-pricing, and MMS Interworking. In addition, MACH delivers mobile content services through the independently operating brand End2End as well as EDI under the Progrator brand. Headquartered in Luxembourg, the company has regional offices in Denmark, Brazil, Germany, India, Poland, Russia, Singapore, U.K., United Arab Emirates and USA. For further information please visit www.mach.com

About AeroMobile
AeroMobile Limited is a joint venture formed between ARINC Inc and Telenor ASA. Headquartered in the Crawley, West Sussex, AeroMobile provides a complete solution to airlines and aircraft operators who wish to offer in-flight mobile (cellular) communications services to their passengers and staff. AeroMobile is the first in-flight mobile communications technology to be commercially available. The AeroMobile system interfaces to existing or future aircraft-to-ground communications systems and is designed to be fully compliant with required aircraft certification/airworthiness requirements and ground telecommunications regulatory requirements.

Izvor: MGN