American Airlines sent a letter to the FCC...

a vote at its Thursday meeting. “The service will be important to satisfying air travelers’ increasing demands for mobile broadband data,” the company said (http://bit.ly/ZsoOhx). “American Airlines agrees with the central premise of the Petition for Rulemaking that Qualcomm Incorporated filed asking the FCC to establish the new service -- that U.S. travelers need to have broadband access while they are in-flight that is equal to the level of access they have on the ground because broadband access via smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and laptops, is valued by American travelers.” Qualcomm met with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn on the notice (http://bit.ly/15ekFpi). The Satellite Industry Association had a series of meetings at the commission to raise concerns about interference to fixed satellite service. “SIA noted its continued opposition to the Qualcomm petition, reiterating SIA’s view that Qualcomm’s proposed ... system will cause interference into the FSS satellite services that are primary in that band,” SIA said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/165FkLP). “SIA reviewed the ongoing importance of the Ku-band uplink bands to the satellite industry, noting that the industry has invested more than $20 billion to build, launch and operate more than 80 satellites with Ku-band capacity. These satellites generate more than $1 billion dollars in satellite services revenue in North America alone."