Aircel Buys Airfone, With December Service Sunset Date

In-flight communications provider Aircel wrapped its acquisition of the Airfone business unit of LiveTV LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of JetBlue Airways Corporation. The agreement includes LiveTV’s 1 MHz air-to-ground spectrum license as well as the Airfone in-flight communications services, network infrastructure and back-office operational assets. The Airfone service currently operates on frequencies adjacent to those used by Aircel’s Gogo Biz in-flight Internet service in the business aviation market as well as Gogo in the commercial airline market. To support the ongoing expansion of those services, the Airfone service will be decommissioned Dec. 31, 2013.