AT&T abandons its plans to offer in-flight Wi-Fi

Back in April, AT&T announced its plans to partner up with Honeywell in order to deliver in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity to passengers using its 4G LTE network, which the American company hoped would launch sometime in 2015. The service would’ve directly competed with providers such as Gogo, which controls most of the in-flight Wi-Fi market in the United States at the moment.

“We firmly believe that we are a leader in this space because we specialize in aviation and we’ve built a network to service the global aviation market,” said Gogo CEO, Michael Small, in response the AT&T’s plans, as quoted by Businessweek. “We continue to improve our product and services and look forward to competing with existing competitors and anyone else who wants to get into the space.”

According to Re/code, however, the telecommunications giant has decided to abandon its plans to offer in-flight Wi-Fi, choosing instead to focus on expanding its network on the ground. Last week, AT&T revealed its plans acquire Mexican wireless carrier Iusacell for $2.5 billion, in addition to agreeing to acquire DirecTV for about $50 billion back in May.

“As AT&T explores opportunities for future growth and diversification, expanding our international presence has remained an area of interest,” the company told Runway Girl Network. “On Friday we announced our intent to acquire Mexico wireless company Iusacell. After a thorough review of our investment portfolio, the company decided to no longer pursue entry into the Inflight Connectivity industry. We are focusing our capital on transformative investments, such as international and video.”