DoT Awaits a ‘Yes’ from Law Ministry for In-Flight Connectivity

Department of telecommunications is waiting for an approval from the Law Ministry on in-flight connectivity norms.

The Department of Telecommunications is waiting for clearance of the in-flight connectivity norms by the Law Ministry and would notify the rules once it gets a go ahead, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said here on 5 December, 2018.

Sinha told reporters that the Law Ministry may give the approval in around a week.

“We have asked the approval of the Law Ministry for the in-flight connectivity norms. I hope that we would receive the clearance in 7-10 days and once it is cleared we would notify the norms,” he said.

The Telecom Commission on May 1 had approved in-flight connectivity, facilitating both voice and data calls and data surfing in Indian airspace.

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A DoT official said the Communications Ministry wants the international best practice to be followed in India in respect of whether the coverage of in-flight connectivity should be up to territorial waters or extend to Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

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Territorial water extends up to 12 nautical miles (around 22 km) from coastal line of the country, while EEZ covers up to 200 nautical miles (370.4 km).

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"Once DoT issues the notification, which hopefully should happen immediately, then we will sit across with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and then decide what should be the time-frame for moving forward," the official said.