EC Introduces Onboard Mobile Communication Services Rules

These services will allow people to make and receive calls and text messages on their mobiles while flying inside EU space, the Commission said in a press release.

Airlines need to install MCA (mobile communication on aircrafts) equipment, which consists of a "picocell" (a very small mobile base station or mobile "mast") and a "Network Control Unit". Mobile phones need to use much less power to connect to the base station that is only a few metres away and on board the aircraft itself, rather than a base station that is on the ground.

Licenses to use mobile communication services on aircrafts have already been granted by most EU countries, among which Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy.

"A harmonized approach on licensing which will promote mutual recognition between national authorizations for mobile communications services on board aircraft,” the release reads.

Commission Decision which sets out harmonized technical parameters of onboard equipment for in-flight mobile phone use throughout the EU that will allow Member States to recognize each other’s licenses for mobile communications on board aircraft without risk to mobile networks on the ground.

However, airliners will decide whether to allow mobile phone use aboard their planes.