In-flight connectivity within a year: Govt

New Delhi: Confident of the progressive steps' being taken by Department of Telecommunications in the last four years, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hopeful that in-flight connectivity within Indian airspace would be available for air travellers within a year.

Making the announcement, Union Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Monday said, "In one-year, we will be able to provide in-flight connectivity."

It was learnt that officials of the Telecommunications Ministry would be meeting their counterparts in the Civil Aviation Ministry along with the telecom service providers in the next ten days to discuss finalising different issues on the matter. "The discussions on the operational model will entail questions like who will be investing in infrastructure, who will be providing the services. There is no standard model...we will have to see what is suitable in the Indian context," said Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan. The Telecom Commission, which is the highest policy-making body of DoT, on May 1 had cleared a proposal for allowing wider in-flight connectivity that is now available in most of the developed markets. See P13