Brussels rules for in-flight mobile phone use across Europe
The European Commission has introduced rules to harmonise conditions for the take-off of pan-European mobile communication services on aircraft. These services will allow businesspeople and consumers to receive and make calls and messages safely with their own mobile phones while flying all over Europe. This means that the 90% of European air passengers that already carry mobile phones on-board aircraft can remain contactable during flights.
Measures will harmonise the technical and licensing requirements for the use of mobile phones on board aircrafts. Passengers' phones will be linked to an onboard cellular network connected to the ground via satellite. The system will at the same time prevent phones from connecting directly to mobile networks on the ground below. This will ensure that transmission powers are kept low enough for mobile phones to be used without affecting the safety of aircraft equipment or the normal operation of terrestrial mobile networks.
Two measures have been adopted by the Commission on 7th April 2007 about Mobile about Communication services on Aircraft are pan-European telecoms services:
- A Commission Recommendation for a harmonised approach on licensing which will promote mutual recognition between national authorisations for mobile communications services on aircraft.
- A Commission Decision which sets out harmonised technical parameters of onboard equipment for in-flight mobile phone use throughout the EU that will allow Member States to recognise each other's licences for mobile communications on board aircraft without risk to mobile networks on the ground.
What is meant by mobile communication services on aircraft (MCA)?
It means in-flight phone calls, e-mail type data communication and messages sent or received by passengers using their own everyday mobile phones. It does not include aircraft-specific phones, such as those integrated within the aircraft seat that are made available by some airlines, nor does it cover operational communications made by and to the aircraft's crew.
This service is currently limited to GSM1800 technology. The generic term mobile communication services on aircraft (MCA) is preferred to the previously used "GSM on-board" because other mobile technologies such as 3G could also be deployed in the future, depending on market demand.
EU participation in research project.
EU's involvement in MCA was the funding of the WIRELESS CABIN research and development project between 2000 and 2002, which delivered the technological development required to make in-flight telephony a realistic proposition.
The project was sponsored in the 5th IST frame programme of the European Commission and it had a consortium composed by the following organisations: