JetBlue buying Verizon towers
Towers once used by Verizon's in-flight calling service will be acquired by airliner, which offers free Wi-Fi connections on one plane.
NEW YORK (AP) -- JetBlue will purchase the towers once used by Verizon Communications Inc. for its now defunct in-flight calling service, a JetBlue spokesman said Monday.
A Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) unit, Airfone, operated a network of seat-back phones on several commercial airlines, but shut down that business in 2006, after the spectrum it used was reauctioned by the government. JetBlue's (JBLU) LiveTV in-flight entertainment subsidiary was one of the winners of the auction.
JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White didn't provide the financial terms of Monday's deal, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
JetBlue Airways Corp. started offering free Wi-Fi connectivity on one of its planes in December. The service is limited to e-mail, instant messaging and some services from Amazon.com.
Another company, Aircell LLC, bought the largest swath of spectrum that Airfone vacated. American Airlines and Virgin America have signed on to use Aircell to provide a broad range of Internet services, including Web surfing, starting this year. Aircell has built its own network of air-to-ground towers. 
