Gulf Air, Panasonic launch in-flight Live TV, Wi-Fi and mobile

Gulf Air has taken delivery of its first A330-200 retrofitted with Panasonic Avionics’ Global Communications Suite. The ‘Sky Hub’ offers onboard full broadband connectivity to access Internet, mobile phone services and a global, live television service and will gradually be installed across Gulf Air’s entire fleet.
The ‘Sky Hub’ includes high speed Wi-Fi , voice over the Internet (VOIP), streaming videos and the world's first in-flight live TV satellite stream across continents.”
Gulf Air will offer two-way broadband connectivity at speeds of up to 50 Mbps to the aircraft, enabling faster browsing, chatting and other internet based services. Travelers will no longer have to wait in anxiety until they land to find out scores from their favorite sporting events or news from around the world. Now they can watch their favorite football teams on IMG Media’s Barclays Premier League channel or keep up with world events on favorite news channels such as BBC World News, BBC Arabic and Euronews.
Passengers also will be able to browse the web at broadband speeds, and access social media services such as Facebook and Twitter. In addition, business travelers can access their virtual private network (VPN) to send and receive emails while watching live-news and stock market updates at 35,000 feet through Deutsche Telekom, the wireless internet service provider onboard.
Panasonic’s mobile voice and data service, offered in collaboration with AeroMobile's in-flight mobile phone technology, will enable passengers to use their mobile phone, Smartphone or BlackBerry to call, text, email, browse the internet and use other applications throughout the flight. They will also be able to use GSM-enabled tablets and laptops to go online in flight.
Gulf Air is AeroMobile’s tenth customer, with many roaming partners including Emirates Airline and Malaysian Airlines, while other announced airline commitments include Lufthansa, V Australia, Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific and Turkish Airlines.