EC welcomes swift take-up of in-flight mobile comms
Summary: Europe now has 27 aircraft equipped to allow passengers to use their mobiles in-flight, and the number of planes enabled for use of mobiles is expected to double by the end of 2009
Europe now has 27 aircraft equipped to allow passengers to use their mobiles in-flight, and the number of planes enabled for in-flight use of mobiles is expected to double by the end of the year.
The European Commission today welcomed the swift take up of in-flight comms by airlines Ryanair, TAP and BMI, just a year after the Commission created rules allowing for the safe use of phones on planes across European airspace.
The Commission said this "constitutes a promising start", and said technical trials are taking place at other airlines.
EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding said in a statement: "The possibility to use a mobile phone onboard an aircraft is particularly sought after by business travellers and younger passengers. In addition, in-flight GSM offers are an interesting business model for European companies."
Two providers of mobile communications OnAir and AeroMobile offer mobile communications on aircraft in Europe.
The Commission said the price of on-board phone services so far start from about €1.60 (£1.50) per minute for a call and about 43 cents for a text message.
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Talkback
A start
It is to be hoped that in the not too distant future the passengers in commercial aircraft will have a full broadband service, I envisage the aircraft being a small ISP in it's own right, at a reasonable price per GB. The infrastructure to operate this will be fairly elementary and not have the expenses that ground based services have.
Passengers menaced by in-flight mobile comms.
The thought of having to listen to other peoples' (inconsiderate) private or business conversations on a flight curls my toes.
Broadband with a ban on any voice communications would be a great way of passing time on a long haul flight and should provide a sufficient way for those, who feel they must or are just congenital mobile phone users, to keep in touch without causing nuisance and stress to other passengers.
Just imagine everyone reaching for their phone at the end of a long journey. Ugh!!!!!!