SME Times News Bureau | 05 Dec, 2018
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 Wednesday.
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.
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).
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).
"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.
