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You can soon make calls or surf the internet aboard an aircraft, as the Telecom Commission (TC) on Tuesday approved a proposal for in-flight mobile services.
The TC, chaired by Department of Telecom (DoT) Secretary Aruna Sundararajan, also approved various other proposals including a telecom ombudsman, connectivity between Chennai and Anadaman & Nicobar Islands, and Bharatnet for eight States including Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP (East and West), West Bengal and Sikkim.
“The in-flight connectivity (IFC) was approved by the Telecom Commission,” Sundararajan told reporters after the meeting. “It was decided to accept TRAI’s views except that the satellites used to provide services should be Department of Space-approved satellites and the gateway should be in India. We will operationalise this immediately.” TRAI in January had recommended that foreign satellite firms be allowed to facilitate IFC.
It will take 3-4 months for the services to take off in Indian air space, the DoT Secretary added. The IFC provider will have to take a licence from DoT.
“It is a welcome move by the Telecom Commission as it would mean more convenience for air travellers,” a Vistara spokesperson said. “We will study the recommendations in detail and determine the economics of offering it on domestic and international routes.”
Calling from apps
“On internet telephony, all the recommendations of TRAI have been accepted except the one to link calls to numbers. This will be a fillip to voice telephony using data networks,” Sundararajan said.
The approval puts an end to ambiguity around making calls via mobile apps.
Under the TRAI proposal, companies that hold valid telecom licences can provide app-based calling service even using wi-fi connections.
The operator will be required to comply with all the interception- and monitoring-related requirements. The calls will be charged by the telecom operators and all the rules related to normal calls will be applicable to them, according to TRAI’s suggestion.
Telecom ombudsman
TRAI will create an ombudsman, Sundararajan further said. “It is now proposed to give them (TRAI) the powers to create an ombudsman...This will bring in much better and more satisfactory grievance redressal system in the telecom sector,” she said.
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