Website TechCentral reports that CEO Carel van der Merwe said that he is confident of getting the green light, despite the lack of Civil Aviation Authority approval, and that the service will be available within the next few months.

"After extensive testing in the US, the first complete set of hardware will arrive in SA shortly," Van der Merwe said. "This will be used to set up a ground-based proof-of-concept in SA to test the complete solution, including the satellites that will be used for the commercial product."

Through an agreement with Row 44, a US-based company, WirelessG said it's confident of offering the service of local and international flights.

The airlines involved and costs are being kept under wraps, but Van der Merwe said that subscribers to G-Connect and WirelessG's prepaid internet service will be able to use their accounts on-board the aircraft.

"With the G-Connect sign-up process being free of cost and contracts, we are expecting many travellers to utilise the advantage of our in-flight offering," he said.