New Delhi, May 1: Much to the happiness of air passengers, the Telecom Commission on Tuesday has given a conditional approval for in-flight mobile services connectivity in India. With the latest development, the passengers will now be allowed to use mobile phone calls and internet services in domestic and international flights in India in the next three to four months.

The Telecom Commission, which is the highest decision-making body of telecom department - also approved regulator Trai's recommendations on internet telephony in its meeting today. With this approval, frequent fliers no longer will have to turn on ‘airplane mode’ while taking a flight.

According to a report by PTI, another proposal that received approval entails the creation of an ombudsman to deal with telecom grievances, telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters. As per the recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the in-flight connectivity will be available once the aircraft has achieved an altitude of 3,000 meters.

Sundararajan said that an ombudsman will be set up under Trai and will require an amendment to the Trai Act. “Nearly 10 million grievances are received per quarter in telecom sector”, she said adding the new mechanism of the ombudsman will lead to a better and satisfactory consumer grievance redressal system.

“The DoT will now make the necessary amendments to the relevant laws to create a separate category of licences for in-flight connectivity operators, which could be telecom service providers. After making the amendments, the delay will invite applications from those interested in providing these services,” the official said.

In a bid to promote the concept of in-flight connectivity, these service providers should be charged a nominal licence fee of Re 1 per annum. This means for the in-flight connectivity will be allowed within the Indian airspace with a licence fee of Rupee 1 for the Telecom service provider and the consumer price will be decided by the operator and the airline company.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 01, 2018 04:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).