Connecting Brands Across Industries to Create Value for Customers and Deliver on the Promise of Ubiquitous Connectivity

Consumers today demand continuous access to high-speed connectivity across all personal devices no matter where they may be. Wireless carriers seek to attract and retain subscribers, reduce churn, and engender loyalty. Commercial airlines strive to offer a differentiated and enhanced passenger experience and ensure every seat on every flight is filled.  

In a strategic endeavor designed to further Intelsat’s vision of providing ubiquitous access to connectivity and content, two distinct Intelsat business units joined forces to help their customers meet these ambitions in one innovative initiative.

With more than 68 million subscribers, TIM is one of the largest mobile operators in Brazil and a longtime customer of Intelsat’s Networks division. GOL is one of the largest airlines in the country and an Intelsat Commercial Aviation (CA) customer with planes outfitted with the company’s 2Ku solution to deliver industry-leading speeds to support video streaming, web browsing, and other Wi-fi enabled services.

Leveraging their deep relationships and keen understanding of the market challenges each face in their respective industries, the Intelsat Networks and Commercial Aviation teams identified an opportunity to bring their customers together in a mutually beneficial partnership – and they acted upon it.

The Intelsat teams jointly designed a program that would bring together multiple technologies and elements of its next generation satellite network to enable TIM and GOL to offer unlimited and hassle-free access to inflight Wi-Fi on all domestic and some international flights.

The benefits to all would be plentiful.

For TIM, this offers an opportunity to provide new experiences to their consumers and strengthen relationships.

For the airline, the program represents a way to spend less on IFC expenses and delight passengers in the process. 

The initiative would serve as the next step in fulfilling Intelsat’s vision of enabling continuous and seamless connectivity as consumers move from their homes to offices, from cars to planes, and so on.

As the network operator and primary relationship owner, Intelsat’s Networks and Commercial Aviation teams worked behind the scenes and across business groups to bring the concept to reality, ultimately leading to the launch of the program in October 2022.

Today, TIM Black and Black Familia subscribers can access inflight Wi-Fi on GOL aircraft for messaging and browsing. Customers access the portal, click on a customized banner, enter their login credentials, and connect to Intelsat’s network. No fumbling for credit cards is required.

Along with driving higher customer satisfaction and supporting broader business growth ambitions, the program demonstrated Intelsat’s unique ability to form strong partnerships between brands and work collaboratively across technologies and business units to solve complex problems. On the heels of the successful deployment in Brazil, Intelsat is now pursuing similar engagements around the world.