European Skies to be Open to Mobiles

Emirates has already successfully allowed the first in-flight mobile phone call and things are literally looking up in the European skies as users can now make calls from their cell phones while cruising at an altitude of 3,000m or more. According to a quote by Viviane Reding, the EU telecoms commissioner given to the BBC, "If consumers receive shock phone bills, the service will not take-off. I also call on airlines and operators to create the right conditions on board aircraft to ensure that those who want to use in-flight communication services do not disturb other passengers,". Thank goodness we have her on our side.

There are still a few kinks, at least in the legal department that need to be worked out before the system can be implemented fully and of course all of this greatly depends on the individual airlines. They will need to give it their go ahead for their planes. But it’s a start. The system will have to be fool proof and properly inspected before this service can "get off the ground". The working is rather simplistic though. Small base stations (pico cells) will be installed in the aircraft that will provide coverage to users in the plane. The signals will then be transmitted by these pico cells to normal terrestrial networks via satellite. At the moment, the service is limited by just being usable in Europe and it’s possible that once you leave Europe air space your mobile would lose the signal. The system will also have a simple On and Off mode to be used when and if necessary.But I’ll say it again – It’s a Start! It should be a matter of time before this system ‘takes off’ and we’ll just have to hope that it makes becomes a world wide implementation soon. The first flights offering calls could start as early as next month, let’s just wait and see what the first in-flight phone bills come to though.