TRAI releases Recommendations on In-Flight Connectivity

New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 18th January 2018 has issued its Recommendations on ‘In-Flight Connectivity’.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has through its letter dated 10th August 2017 had communicated that there is a proposal to introduce In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) for voice, data and video services over Indian airspace for domestic, international and overlying flights in Indian Air Space.

TRAI has been requested by DoT to furnish its recommendations on licensing terms and conditions for provision of IFC for voice, data and video services and associated issues such as entry fee, license fee, spectrum related issues including usage charges and method of allocation and other conditions.

Hence TRAI held OHD on 27th November 2017, after releasing a Consultation Paper on ‘In-Flight Connectivity’ on 29th September 2017 seeking comments of stakeholders.

TRAI has finalized its recommendation on ‘In-Flight Connectivity’ after analysing the comments received from stakeholders during the OHD.

The highlights of the recommendations are as follows:

Both, Internet and MCA service should be permitted as In-FlightConnectivity (IFC) in the Indian airspace.
The operation of MCA services should be permitted with minimum height restriction of 3OOO meters in Indian airspace for its compatibility with terrestrial mobile networks.
Internet Services through Wi-Fi onboard should be made available when electronic devices are permitted to use only in flight/airplane mode.
A separate category of ”IFC Service Provider” should be created to permit IFC services in Indian airspace. The IFC service provider should be required to get itself registered with the DoT and it need not necessarily be in Indian entity.
The IFC service provider be permitted to provide IFC services, after entering into an arrangement with Unified Licensee having appropriate authorization.
If IFC service provider partners with Unified Licensee having Internet Service (Category ‘A’) authorization for the provision of Internet services onboard as part of IFC, then (i) If the licensee also has the Commercial VSAT CUG service authorization, it can provide the satellite links also. Alternatively, (ii) Unified Licensee with National Long Distance (NLD) service authorization can provide the satellite links.
The regulatory requirements should be same for both Indian registered and foreign registered airlines for offering IFC services in Indian airspace.
The deployment of a gateway in India provides in effective mechanism to lawfully intercept and monitor the in-cabin internet traffic -while the aircraft is in Indian airspace. Therefore, the onboard Internet traffic must be routed to a Satellite Gateway on Indian soil. Such an obligation should be imposed regardless of whether the satellite in question is an Indian Satellite System or not.
The IFC service provider should be permitted to use either INSAT systems (Indian Satellite System or foreign satellite capacity leased through DoS) or foreign satellites outside INSAT systems in the Indian airspace.
To promote the adoption of IFC services in Indian airspace, the IFC service provider should be imposed a flat annual Licence Fee of token amount of Rs. 1. However, the same may be reviewed and amended at a later stage, if need be.
Spectrum neutral approach should be adopted subject to the condition that the frequency bands have been harmonized and coordinated for their use at the ITU. It would facilitate the IFC services in all the bands (L, Ku and Ka] in which IFC services are currently being provided.
The framework recommended for IFC services in Indian airspace should be made applicable to all types of aircrafts such as commercial airlines, business jets, executive aircrafts etc.