BONN, Germany-Two German companies have made further commitments to the Wi-Fi market, with T-Mobile International AG announcing it will expand its Starbucks Coffee Co. partnership into Germany and German airline operator Lufthansa committing to the technology for its aircraft after a three-month trial.
T-Mobile Deutschland said its cooperation with Starbucks, currently available in the United States and the United Kingdom, will now include Germany. T-Mobile and the coffee house chain will install wireless high-speed Internet access in Starbucks shops following the completion of a pilot project in Berlin.
The service will be available in every Starbucks coffee house in Germany by the end of the year. Users can choose to pay for up to an hour of the service for $9.33, $18.71 for up to three hours of use or 24-hour access for $29.27. Costs are charged to a user’s T-Mobile bill, and non-T-Mobile customers pay by credit card.
Starbucks has an exclusive deal with T-Mobile in all its markets for the service, and about 2,000 of its coffee houses in the United States will offer the service by the end of the year. In March, Starbucks reported that U.S. Wi-Fi customers are spending an average of 46 minutes per session at its locations with 90 percent of the use coming after 9 a.m., although actual numbers of users are harder to come by.
Another German company, Lufthansa, said it plans to introduce Wi-Fi service on its entire long-haul fleet of airplanes. About 80 Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340 and A330 aircraft will be equipped for the service beginning next year.
The airline will offer an exclusive free portal with news, weather and stock information that will be updated by satellite during flights, in addition to allowing passengers to connect to the Internet or their company’s intranets or mail servers.
The airline is the first to equip its aircraft with the service. Other airlines, such as Air France, have announced plans to offer Wi-Fi service in their airport lounges.
Lufthansa will use Connexion by Boeing equipment for the service.
