PASSENGERS on British airlines will soon be able to make and receive in-flight calls on their mobile phones.
A major hurdle was cleared yesterday when Ofcom, the telecommunications regulator, agreed the move.
That came days after passengers aboard an Emirates flight from Dubai to Casablanca became the first in the world to use their personal handsets
legally on a commercial aircraft.
The milestone happened at 30,000ft on a specially equipped Airbus A340-300, as The Scotsman reported on Saturday.
Yesterday, Ofcom said it had approved the use of on-board base stations to channel signals from passengers' phones to the ground.
However, they must be switched off during take-off and landing to ensure they do not interfere with mobile networks on the ground.
Once the aircraft reaches a minimum height of 9,840ft (3,000m), the system may be switched on by the cabin crew. Mobile users will then be able to use the aircraft's network service to make and receive calls, which will be routed via a satellite link to the network on the ground.
The calls will be billed through the passengers' phone firms.
Ofcom said the new arrangements would be subject to approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency and by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority.
Approval is also required from telecommunications regulators in every country an aircraft flies over. Most of those in Europe have already taken this step.
Air France plans to offer in-flight calls by June after launching text-only mobile phone trials in December.
UK-based Bmi is expected to start trials in June. Ryanair also plans in-flight calls from this summer.
Airlines have offered their passengers in-flight calls using cabin phones for years, but high charges have limited their use.
The full article contains 305 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
