NEW DELHI: Your personal electronic devices like laptops, tablets and smart phones may soon become operable while flying in Indian airspace, instead of just remaining in airplane mode.

Aviation secretary RN Choubey said on Wednesday that the government will decide on the issue of allowing Wi-Fi in Indian airspace in the next 10 days.

“The matter has been taken up with other government departments. You may soon get the good news as there is a broad understanding (on the issue),“ Choubey said, adding that the pricing of the service will be left for the airlines to decide as the government will not cap the same.

The issue was deliberated by telecom, home and aviation ministries and it was felt there is no security issue in allowing Wi-Fi as voice and data can be tracked. If allowed, flyers will even be able to make WhatsApp calls using Internet, if airlines decide to provide this service.

At present, no Indian carrier has Wi-Fi on board as providing the service is too expensive for them. Jet Airways is weighing the cost options of Wi-Fi on board.

Foreign airlines which have internet on board are allowed to keep it on in Indian airspace only if they have a local server. And if foreign airlines do not have a local server, they have to keep their Internet-on-board switched off for the time their plane is in Indian airspace.

The secretary made this announcement here at an award function of the Air Passenger' Association of India.



Facebook Twitter Linkedin Mail