ANNAPOLIS, Md. and OSLO, Norway -- The first mobile phone service for passengers on commercial airlines will use miniature cellular technology developed just for inflight operation.Representatives of ARINC Incorporated and Telenor today announced leading U.K. technology firm ip.access has designed the world’s smallest GSM picocell base station for use in their AeroMobileSM inflight phone service, planned for operation later this year.

The new picocell, combined with a unique AeroMobile antenna, will provide full cabin coverage for passengers to use their personal GSM handsets. The AeroMobile antenna architecture allows increasing functionality and capacity by adding picocells in the future.

“By building on our proven nanoBTSTM technology, AeroMobile has assured its airline customers of complete system flexibility well into the future,” stated Mark Pittick, ip.access Vice President, Sales and Marketing. “nanoBTS meets industry standards for use with GSM handsets, GPRS data, and IP and circuit-switched networks.”

“We selected ip.access as our in-cabin cell provider because their nanoBTS offers the most compact, advanced design, and has been proven in the market,” said Graham Lake, ARINC Vice President, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “ip.access is the leading provider of GSM picocells worldwide, to operators including T-Mobile in North America, Smart in the Philippines, and Eurotel in the Czech Republic.”

ip.access Ltd.