LOUISVILLE, Colo.-In a decision released June 9, the Federal Communications Commission sided with AirCell Inc., an air-to-ground communications system provider for the aviation market, in the company’s dispute with a group of seven national cellular service carriers.
The commissioners denied five Applications for Review and dismissed five Motions of Stay filed by the opposing carriers, AirCell said. The FCC also extended AirCell’s operating authority by an additional two years.
“This is a significant decision for AirCell and the flying public,” said Jim Stinehelfer, president and chief executive officer of AirCell. “For nearly three years now, our efforts have been directed at the difficult task of expanding our network and service partners, and simultaneously trying to stabilize our regulatory environment. The FCC ruling eliminates these regulatory hurdles and allows us to focus our resources and energies on serving the public good.”
The disputes began in 1997 when the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology halted AirCell’s experimental operations after appeals from several cellular service providers claimed AirCell’s technology, which operates in the 800 MHz frequency band, would cause interference with their own technology.
FCC-supervised tests conducted in July 1997 proved the non-interfering nature of AirCell’s technology, and the OET lifted its restriction on AirCell. In late 1998, the FCC granted AirCell and its carrier partners a two-year exemption of the FCC’s prohibition on the use of cellular phones in airborne aircraft. It was shortly thereafter the opposing carriers appealed the bureau’s order, AirCell said.
