Faisal, our chip man, suggested mobile VoIP as an alternative to expensive in-flight calls. But we struggled to conclude who the right service provider candidate would be. Faisal also argues that in-flight mobile VoIP does not make sense unless you offer it to all mobile phones including the low end devices.

Let us for a minute focus on the handsets that can offer some kind of soft-client based mobile VoIP. Someone like Aircell, the in-flight broadband access provider, could be a possible candidate to offer mobile VoIP on-board the aircrafts. This would add to the service provider topline just a bit. Private label mobile VoIP is not much different from private label PC-to-Phone. It is definitely not rocket science to private label it for an ISP like Aircell. There is one hitch though: who distributes the soft-client on board? You will require cooperation from the airlines.

That then leads me to suggest that the airline carrier itself would be a great candidate. Imagine boarding a British Airways aircraft and being sent a light weight mobile VoIP soft-client via Bluetooth. You have 10 minutes of free calling. Beyond that you pay by credit card. I would definitely want to kill time by calling people whom I have not phoned for long.

What else is in it for someone like British Airways? Well, what more could you want if you have a presence on someone’s mobile phone? You can push any sort of promotional info over the client (whether in-flight or after it). You can convert your customer’s air miles into free mobile VoIP minutes. 33 million passengers flew BA last year. That can’t be a small market in terms of potential. There is also a huge domestic air traffic in countries like USA and India. Mobile VoIP for airlines is, I think, a good opportunity.