India will soon offer IFC services in airlines operating in its territory to boost aviation sector and cater to the increasing preference for the service
The department of telecom (DoT) has informed that it will begin with data services in flights within the Indian territory. The in-flight connectivity (IFC) proposal for India states that airline passengers will be offered voice calls and data services but initially, only data services will be facilitated due to some issues in the former one.
Earlier in September, Aruna Sundararajan, telecom secretary made an announcement that IFC would kickstart within a week if the government issued an official notification regarding the proposal.
IFC proposal
IFC allows making calls and accessing the internet while on flights. While it has already been made available by a slew of airlines globally, India is yet to introduce the facility. The DoT, reportedly, will seek the law ministry’s guidance on the proposal before issuing any formal update. It might take two weeks’ time or more to finalise the guidelines.
IFC business
The telecom secretary said that airlines were interested in taking up IFC as it could be a competitive strategy to reach out to passengers. She added that the tariffs would be set by the airline operators, but the ultimate decision would depend on the regulator. Indian carriers had been promoting IFC as it would be an extra source of revenue in the aviation sector.
The price for these services would cost the passengers a little more than what they pay for the usual mobile services. Aircrafts operating in India, reportedly, would require around $1 million investment to issue IFC services to its passengers.
IFC abroad
In-flight connectivity is available in about 30 jurisdictions. AirAsia, Air France, British Airways, Egypt Air, Emirates, Air New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic have facilitated IFC passengers.
The telecom department has been conducting meetings with concerned authorities to discuss IFC service in the Indian airspace. It has also lifted a ban on the use of mobile phones and internet services at cruising altitudes.
