In-flight calls in India to cost Rs 40 per minute

Soon you will be able to make and receive phone calls on your mobile in a flight. Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body in the telecom sector, on Tuesday approved a proposal for in-flight connectivity.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) will take three months to formulate the framework for providing the services. Thereafter, it will go to the committee of secretaries for approval.

Once the framework is ready, airlines and the service providers will start setting up the network and provide services. This means that it will take a minimum of 12 months before the services will be available to the consumers.

Industry sources say that the services will be exorbitant. This is due to the reason that the calls and Internet services will pass through Satellite. A base station will be set up on a plane, which will send a signal from a mobile handset to satellite. Then it will go to terrestrial GSM/LTE network.

That is the reason the price of a phone call will be in the range of Rs 40 per minute, though there will be packages and the rates may vary depending upon the Airlines. In any case, it is a step in the right direction.