Critical Microchip Determined Defective—Again

Gogo Business Aviation, the American provider of in-flight broadband Internet and similarly vital connectivity services for business aircraft, announced that the launch of its 5G network has been delayed.

Gogo set forth the postponement is attributable to a design-flaw in a microchip critical to its 5G technology.

Gogo president and CEO Sergio Aguirre stated: “We are disappointed in this delay, but remain confident that Gogo 5G will deliver better performance and better value than competitive ATG or GEO satellite solutions.”

The defective chip was designed by a third-party subcontractor.

Currently, Gogo is collaborating with its suppliers for purpose of defining a definitive path forward. Nevertheless, the company persists in the expectation that its 5G network will launch in mid-2024, and has committed to provide its customers and partners periodic updates as warranted.

OneWeb, Gogo’s LEO satellite network provider, completed deployment of its 588-satellite LEO constellation at the end of March 2023. The London-based communications company expects its constellation to be operational and aero-ready in 2024’s first quarter, with Gogo’s global broadband service coming online prior to the end of 2024.

In February 2023, Gogo and its antenna provider, Hughes Network Systems, completed preliminary design review of a proprietary, electronically-steerable antenna (ESA) assembly, thereby bringing Gogo one step closer to realizing its vision of delivering an order-of-magnitude improvement in inflight connectivity for all sizes and manner of global business aircraft—many of which currently want for a viable broadband solution.

Gogo 5G is expected to deliver an average of 25-megabits-per-second (Mbps), with peak-speeds in the 75-80 Mbps range. To address the increasing demand for data-heavy interactive services the likes of video conferencing, the network has been designed to deliver high throughput with low latency.

The multi-bearer capability and software-centric design of Gogo’s AVANCE platform allows customers to future-proof their inflight connectivity investments, and offers upgrade paths to Gogo’s 5G and global Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based networks.

At the 2019 NBAA-BACE, Gogo declared its commitment to building a 5G network embodying bleeding-edge aviation connectivity. At 2022’s NBAA-BACE—in an instance of commendable follow-through—Gogo announced it had completed and deployed the entirety of its 150-site, nationwide 5G network. 

Regrettably, Samsung announced soon thereafter that it had discovered a manufacturing error in the first production run of its 5G chips—a salient component of Gogo’s 5G aspirations. The South Korean tech giant subsequently estimated initial deliveries of the all-important chips would be delayed until mid-2023.

True to its word, Samsung announced in January 2023 that its 5G chips had passed a critical design review and were in fabrication with deliveries expected to commence midyear.

Whether or not the newly-announced defective chip was designed by Samsung remains unknown. By way of extensive evaluations thereof, Gogo’s suppliers have determined the design error is neither in, nor apt to affect subject chip’s 5G components.

Delays notwithstanding, Gogo remains confident in its ability to bring to market the first 5G network conceived of and developed exclusively for business aviation. What’s more, Gogo expects the project to remain on budget; the delay, however, is anticipated to reduce the company’s 2023 revenues by approximately $7-million and defer some $13-million in operating and capital expenses from 2023 into 2024. Additional details pertaining to the resolution of the prevailing chip issue and overall progress toward the launch of Gogo’s 5G network will be disclosed during the company’s second-quarter 2023 earnings call on 07 August.

FMI: www.gogoair.com