Air travellers in India may soon have access to the internet and make calls from their mobile phones while flying. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday recommended that in-flight connectivity — both Internet and MCA (mobile communication on aircraft) services — should be allowed over Indian airspace. The decision will allow airlines to offer these services once they meet certain security norms. Internet access can be provided only when boarding is over and the aircraft is about to taxi. Mobile communication will be allowed when the aircraft has risen to about 3,000 metres in altitude. The 3000 metre minimum altitude restriction has been done to ensure "compatibility with terrestrial mobile networks". In October 2017, the TRAI had released a consultation paper calling for views from stake holders about whether or not in-flight connectivity should be allowed in India, and the government licensing framework for this. According to the recommendation paper released by TRAI many stakeholders were of the view that "at present only Internet service should be considered because its demand is more than MCA service." Stakeholders had raised concerns over the regulatory framework governing mobile telephony and issues such as interference, roaming, spectrum usage, quality of service would need to be addressed. The paper mentions that one stakeholder suggested that airlines were no longer installing MCA technologies as Internet data services, messaging applications and voice over internet protocol applications were fulfilling most of the in-flight mobile connectivity requirements. Licensing and spectrum: TRAI has called creating a separate category licence…
