The government hopes to award a licence to an airline or a Wi-Fi operator for offering Wi-Fi service in the Indian skies within two months of receiving the application, RN Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, said on Tuesday.

He said both domestic and international airlines will have to apply for a licence to offer Wi-Fi services over the Indian skies. On May 1, the Telecom Commission approved a proposal to offer inflight Wi-Fi services on flights in India.

Meanwhile, the government plans to change the norms for private sector participation in the operations and management of Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports, the revised bids for which should be out by June 15, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

The government proposes that the private sector also be allowed to make use of the airside and car parking spaces at these two airports apart from the terminal and cargo areas.

In a departure from previous attempts to involve the private sector, the government is now proposing that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) pay a fee to the private sector for these two airports and in exchange the state-owned airport operator will get a revenue share based on a per passenger basis for passengers going through each airport rather than a share of the gross revenue earned by each of the two airports.

The decision to change the norms comes after just one bidder was found eligible for the airports, the official said. He added that within a month of bids for the Ahmedabad and Jaipur airport being made public, the government will also put up three other airports for modernising through the same route.

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