Interview with Reza Rasoulian: Hughes’ connected future
Alan Mak, Senior Director Inflight Connectivity, Hughes (left) and Reza Rasoulian, Senior Vice President, Hughes, at FTE APEX Asia Expo 2024
After travelling long-haul from Toronto, Canada to Singapore for last week’s FTE APEX Asia Expo, connectivity was top of mind for PAX Tech Managing Editor Jane Hobson when she spoke with Hughes’ Senior Vice President Reza Rasoulian on the expo show floor. Rasoulian said that Hobson’s real-life anecdotes—such as a 15-hour premium cabin flight with no complementary Wi-Fi options—give the connectivity provider important feedback to share with its customers and potential customers.
“We’re here at FTE Singapore to build awareness that we can do much more for airlines than we have in the past. We enable airlines to create amazing connectivity experiences because IFEC is an expectation,” he says.
Rasoulian says Hughes is laser focused on delivering a seamless, connected journey in a landscape where it is just no longer appropriate for passengers to experience a blackout while in the air.
He says the APAC and Middle East markets differ slightly from Europe and North America markets due to the heightened level of technology in the region. The expectation globally is that always connected feeling. “From immersive elevators in the UAE to Changi Airport’s LED coy pond, the regions are very good at creating experiences that bring memorable moments and joy along the journey,” he explains. “Connectivity expectations may be even a little more intense because of this—but really it is a global need. There is a global need for robust, good connectivity that is seamless and easy.”
When it comes to long-haul routes, Rasoulian points to capacity and inflight management systems as the main reasons why airline may not offer complementary IFEC to passengers.
“Capacity has been limited over oceans, but LEO satellites are being launched and GEO satellites will also help. It will get better,” he explains.
For latency sensitive applications and service in previously unconnected areas, LEO satellite service from Hughes delivers the quick connectivity solution that passengers expect, he says.
A Eutelsat OneWeb distributor and great partner, Rasoulian says the OneWeb LEO satellites are ready to go and flying, “open for business,” to deliver the ultimate, snappy, low-latency connectivity experience that travellers are used to on the ground, whether it is loading a browser page or texting a photo. Hughes’ inflight connectivity management system (IFCM) perfects the end-to-end user experience, mimicking the on-ground experience. He points out that is what the industry has been struggling to do well at scale thus far—but the challenges are eliminated with Hughes’ IFCM, and approach to capacity.
“We’re very excited about the future. We have doubled the demand profile for our ESA’s next year, and our LEO-enabled customers are delivering connectivity experiences beyond our expectations. It’s a great testament to what’s to come for passengers, and airlines that select Hughes for perfecting their inflight connectivity needs. Very exciting,” he says.
On what the connected future looks like, Rasoulian also tells PAX Tech the company has some exciting developments to be announced in 2025.
