The invention relates to a ground-based
wireless cellular communication system (1a) for providing in-flight
broadband mobile communication services, comprising: at least one ground-based
base station (2) adapted for generating at least one
cell (C1, C2) defining a
solid angle of the space surrounding the
base station (2), the ground- based
base station (2) further comprising at least one
antenna array (5a, 5a) using two-dimensional-
beamforming for generating at least one beam (6a-c, 7a-c) for serving at least one
airplane (8a-c, 8c-e) in the space covered by the at least one
cell (C1, C2) using spatial-division multiple access, SDMA. The invention also relates to an
airplane equipment for providing in-flight
broadband mobile communication services, comprising: at least one antenna for exchange of user data with the ground-based
wireless cellular communication system (1a), a
transceiver unit connected to the at least one antenna for handling the air-to-ground and ground-to-air communication with the ground-based
wireless cellular communication system (1a), and an inside-
airplane communication system for distributing the user data to and from terminals within the airplane.