Tenzing Communications of Seattle was founded in 1999 by David Coe a small group of private investors and Simon "Symonty" Gresham.
Further development funding was raised from private equity sources and in 2001 Airbus, Cathay Pacific and Rockwell Collins became shareholders.
However, the satellites were not launched until March 2005 (I4 F1), November 2005 (I4 F2) and planned April 2008 for the final Pacific Ocean Region, I4 F3.
In 2001, after the September 11 attacks in New York, the FAA would not allow travelers to carry bags or laptops in the passenger cabin, this derailed the company and it followed up by laying off 90% of its workforce.
In the interim, Tenzing deployed a very-low-bandwidth system in partnership with Verizon AirFone's radiotelephone network.