The European Commission introduced new rules yesterday to allow mobile phones to be used on planes via an onboard network.
Under the new system, air travelers will be able to receive and make calls and messages safely with their own mobile phones while flying all over Europe, the EU’s executive arm said.
However a commission spokesman stressed that the in-flight service was not yet generally available and so passengers should heed the advice of flight crews to switch off phones while in the air.
Spokesman Martin Selmayr said that the 27 EU member states have six months to comply with the new rules.
At the moment that luxury is limited to a very few travelers for fear of interfering with the aircraft’s functioning. Some airlines, notably Air France, have begun tests on the system.
“In-flight mobile phone services can be a very interesting new service, especially for those business travelers who need to be ready to communicate wherever they are, wherever they go,” EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said in a statement. “However, if consumers receive shock phone bills, the service will not take-off. I also call on airlines and operators to create the right conditions on board aircraft to ensure that those who want to use in-flight communication services do not disturb other passengers.”
Selmayr, Reding’s chief spokesman, said on-board calls would be “a little more expensive” than those on the ground because the planes would need to install their own in-flight mobile phone network.
He told reporters in Brussels, however, the competitive market place should take care of the price of calls.
“The commission will not interfere with this in the beginning, but we will keep a close eye on it,” he said.
Selmayr, asked about the possibility of a plane full of people all chattering away in-flight, said it would also be up to the airlines to decide how the system is used.
Some airlines are considering only allowing text messages to be sent and received via mobile phones, while others may ask passengers to keep their phones on silent mode so that they do not ring.
Selmayr said that safety concerns would be addressed by not allowing phones to be used until planes are at least 915m up in the air.
He also stressed that flight captains would be able to switch off the on-board service if they felt it necessary.
The measures announced by the commission will harmonize the technical and licensing requirements for using mobile phones on board aircraft.
Under the system, passengers’ phones would 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, thereby ensuring that transmission powers are kept low enough for mobile phones to be used without affecting the safety of aircraft or the terrestrial mobile networks.
Harmonizing the technical requirements for the safe in-flight use of mobile phones will enable the national licenses granted to individual airlines by a member state to be recognized throughout the EU, the commission said.
Therefore an aircraft registered in France or Spain will be able to offer mobile communications to passengers when flying over Germany or Hungary without any additional licensing procedures.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort