ALERT: FCC- Proposal to Terminate Plan Allowing Cellphone Calls on Airplane (April 10, 2017)

April 10, 2017

Alert – FCC: Proposal to Terminate Plan Allowing Cellphone Calls on Airplane

Earlier today, the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Ajit Pai issued a statement recommending that the 2013 proposal to allow phone calls during flights be shelved. FCC Commissioners must now vote on Pai’s order to decide whether to permanently ax the plan.

FCC Chairman issued the following statement:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement regarding his proposal that the FCC terminate its 2013 proceeding that sought to relax rules governing mobile communications on planes:

“I stand with airline pilots, flight attendants, and America’s flying public against the FCC’s ill-conceived 2013 plan to allow people to make cellphone calls on planes. I do not believe that moving forward with this plan is in the public interest. Taking it off the table permanently will be a victory for Americans across the country who, like me, value a moment of quiet at 30,000 feet.”

According to CNET:

This is a turnaround from former Chairman Tom Wheeler’s perspective. In 2013, Wheeler emphasized that the ban on phone calls was based on whether cell phones would cause technical disruptions on flights.

If the FCC did end up changing its rule, the final determination would have been left up to the US Department of Transportation — and then to individual airlines — on whether to allow phone calls. Airlines would have needed to install special technology to give their passengers a cell signal while flying much higher than any of the planet’s cell towers.

“The FCC is the expert agency when it comes to technical communications issues,” Wheeler said in 2013. “We are not the Federal Courtesy Commission.”

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