On Friday 21s March 2008 the first ever mobile call on a plane was made on a flight between Dubai and Casablanca. The call was made as an authorised test on an Emirates flight.
Ofcom have since announced that they have approved the use of mobile phones on planes within EU airspace. Ofcom hopes that the plans will come together as soon as practically possible, and we could see mobile phone calls on planes as early as this year!
There is a lot of planning that needs to be made before calls can be made, it is not as simple as being allowed to switch your phone on and call your mum. Aircraft will have to be fitted with a base station, which can only be turned on by the plane staff once the plane is at an altitude of 3,000 metres. You will then be able to use 2G for voice and text, and Ofcom hope that 3G will be available once this proves successful.
Now the call charges will not have the EU cap applied to them, and no word has been said yet on the possible costs for a call from a mobile on a plane, but Ofcom have vowed to monitor the situation closely.
Now I can't really imagine any calls that are so important that you need to make them in mid air - but I am sure there are people out there that are happy by this outcome. I can only imagine how annoying it could get on a long haul flight to be stuck in front of someone chatting away on their mobile loudly, as always seems to be the case on public transport!
