Civil Aviation Secretary Rajeev Chaubey on Wednesday said the government is likely to take a decision in the next few days.
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Choubey said that the Department of Telecommunications secretary has briefed him about the matter and added, “There is fairly a good chance that in 10 days permission will be given to operate Wi-Fi in the Indian airspace”.
Chaubey was replying to a question on how soon can the government allow Wi-Fi on aircraft flying in and out of India.
A query on whether calls would also be permitted, Choubey said that if data is going to be allowed, it should be possible to make calls as well.
If you are one of those Indian fliers who have always wished that Indian carriers too allowed the use of mobile phones and internet services on board like some of the leading global airlines, your wish may just come true.
The services are not allowed now due to security concerns.
At present, no Indian air carriers have Wi-Fi on board as providing the facility is too expensive for them. According to Choubey, the proposal will not need the Cabinet’s approval. “We expect that to happen as well”, he said.
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About the security issues being discussed, he said the important thing is about monitoring “data and voice transmission” by the security agencies. For quite sometime, I have been chasing it. He mentioned that the pricing of the Wi-Fi service will be decided by the airlines as the government will not cap it.
