Communication in trains and airplanes

2024: Ministry of Digital Development: Wi-Fi on board Russian aircraft will become ubiquitous from 2028

Wi-Fi on board Russian aircraft will become ubiquitous from 2028. The Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation Maksut Shadayev told reporters about this on May 22, 2024.

As RBC clarified in the Ministry of Digital Development, we are talking about the project of the company "Bureau 1440," which is engaged in the creation of a low-orbit satellite constellation in order to provide broadband Internet access services with global coverage from 2027.

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On May 22, 2024, Bureau 1440 entered into a cooperation agreement with Russian Railways and Aeroflot on the use of satellite. The parties agreed on the joint development of digital services based on a satellite low-orbit grouping, domestic technologies in the field of digital transformation of the ground and air transport complex, as well as on the creation of demanded industry IT solutions.

In particular, it is planned to create a broadband data service that will increase the data transfer rate up to 10 times (from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps per subscriber terminal) and significantly reduce the data transfer delay (from 700 ms to 70 ms). Transport industry companies will be able to implement remote management services, backup scenarios, video communication throughout the country and beyond, the press service of the Ministry of Transport clarifies.

The Bureau 1440 added that the company is going to provide a broadband data channel to the vehicle (carriage, aircraft), and the carrier or special operator, in turn, will organize digital entertainment and information services for passengers.

In January 2024, the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy under the Federation Council recommended Roscosmos and the relevant departments of the Russian Federation to prepare proposals for the development of satellites capable of providing high-quality access to the Internet, including on board aircraft.^[1]

2019: Russia to launch fast internet on planes and trains

November 21, 2019 it became known that high-speed Internet will appear in airplanes and trains in Russia. To do this, it is planned to launch an experimental segment of ten repeaters with a range of 150 km for each (the cell tower has an average of 5 km).

Planes and trains will be equipped with devices that receive and transmit the signal, Izvestia writes with reference to the press service of the National Technological Initiative (NTI).

It became known that high-speed Internet will appear in airplanes and trains in Russia

Standards Wi-Fi or 4G do not provide stable access to the Internet to speeds of 90 − 120 km/h and higher, as well as ranges of more than 20 km, the project presentation says. In Russia, they found solutions that make it possible to provide communication for objects moving at speeds up to 1.5 thousand km/h.

The authors of the project want to implement the idea in such a way that the system is compatible with current cellular standards, for example, 5G.

By 2025, it is planned to launch an experimental segment of the network in Gelendzhik, and the first experimental area - in the direction Moscow - Adler. The full cost of the approved project is not specified.

According to the initiators of the project, access Internet to only on the railway can bring 21.5 billion rubles per year. The indicator on air transport is about 5 billion rubles.

The project claims to grant support to the Russian venture capital company, subject to investment by private investors, the NTI press service said. Financial parameters were not disclosed there. A Izvestia source familiar with the details of the project says that one tower at the initial stage will cost about 2 million rubles. The cost will noticeably decrease when the mass production of such equipment is established in our country, he added.

According to the deputy head of the NTI Competence Center Skoltech"" Vitalia Shuba, the need for a fast Internet transport is great, but the construction of suitable towers is beneficial only in densely populated areas of the country.^[2]

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