It was one of the first commercial flights to offer wireless Internet service.
At slight extra cost, Internet service providers could offer movies and upstart phone firms could sell Internet access and teleconferences.
These companies, which offer cheap or free Internet phone service, threaten to completely undermine the telcos' existence if not addressed.
The results add weight to a growing body of evidence that suggests that the U.S. is lagging behind many of its international counterparts, most of whom have much higher levels of competition and, in turn, offer lower prices and faster Internet service.
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"The first thing to do is have a realistic understanding of the threat, so that before you offer a service on the Internet you know how you're going to respond when you're attacked -- and I say 'when' and not 'if' you're attacked, " he said.
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Google wouldn't pay Verizon or other Internet service providers to offer such premium services for Google's products, including its YouTube video service.
O3b, by contrast, intends to offer bandwidth on a wholesale basis to internet-service providers, and transmission services to telecom operators, to link remote base stations to their core networks.
Even PLDT, which already operates a cable-TV system and an Internet service provider, is planning to offer cable Net access, "maybe before the end of 1999, " says Samson.
At the moment only mobile operator EE is able to offer customers the 4G service, which provides faster mobile internet connections.
Unlike them, mobile companies are not under a regulatory obligation to offer access to their networks to third parties such as Internet service providers.
However, neither the desktop nor mobile service offer the ability to watch content without an internet connection.
DoCoMo is expected to offer AOL the technology used in its "i-mode" internet access service, while the DoCoMo service will benefit from the AOL content.
Then there's Virgin.com, Branson's splashy debut on the Internet, which sells every conceivable product and service the company has to offer.
The acquisition further strengthens Tesco's digital entertainment offer, following the purchase of movie and TV streaming service blinkbox in 2011 and personalised internet radio service WE7 in June 2012.
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Washington (CNN) -- As competition expands among airlines to offer passengers the latest in-flight entertainment options, intercontinental routes have been slow to add Internet service.
Ever since Apple announced that it would offer a streaming music service, there has not been much doubt that Apple would attempt to beat Internet radio heavyweight, Pandora.
The cable companies' superior technology allows them to offer interactive content and video-on-demand as well as a regular phone service and high-speed internet access.
If Internet service providers had the same level of control, even big companies like Netflix and Skype, which offer services that complete with those of the ISPs, would be at risk of slower speeds and lower-quality service.
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