new delhi may 1 millions of travellers will soon get to use internet and voice services on mobile phones during flights in the indian airspace as the telecom commission today cleared a proposal for allowing wider inflight connectivity that is now available in most of the developed markets major airlines including air india and vistara today welcomed the telecom commissions decision with civil aviation minister suresh prabhu saying he will ensure earliest implementation of the proposal while mobile phone use will still be restricted during takeoff and landing the telecom departments highest decisionmaking body has approved the lifting of a ban on the use mobile phones and internet services at cruising altitudes globally many airlines are already offering wifi for passengers but they currently have to switch off the facility when they enter the indian airspace airasia air france british airways egypt air emirates air new zealand malaysia airlines qatar airways and virgin atlantic are amongst 30 airlines that are already allowing mobile phone use on aircraft the inflight connectivity facility is expected to be rolled out in 34 months once the modalities of the niche licences and backend agreements are worked out telecom secretary aruna sundararajan told reporters after the twohour meeting of the telecom commission here under indian civil aviation regulations airlines at present order mobile phones to be turned off to avoid interference with aircrafts communication systems however use of other electronic devices such as tablets that do not interfere with flight radio signals is allowed once aeroplane reach cruising height sundararajan said the telecom commission has largely agreed to the telecom regulator trais recommendations on inflight connectivity ifc provision of internet and mobile services during air travel with exception to one aspect pertaining to foreign satellites and gateways trai had said that foreign satellites and foreign gateways should also be permittedbut there had been an earlier committee of secretaries meeting which decided that it should be an indian satellite or department of space approved satellite and the gateway should be in india so the proposal is cleared subject to thisall the other recommendations of trai have been accepted said sundararajan who also chairs the telecom commission the decision of the telecom commission will be operationalised immediately she added exciting times ahead in the indian skies as telecom commission approves data and voice services in flights over indian airspace prabhu said in a tweet noting that he would follow up closely to ensure earliest implementation prabhu also said we remain committed in improving the services to our air passengers making their travel delightful and hasslefree trai had recommended that internet access through wifi onboard be provided once boarding is complete and the passengers start operating devices in airplane mode and that mobile communication on aircraft be allowed at a minimum altitude of about 3000 metres we will have to create a separate category of licensees for providing such servicesit will also provide for connectivity on ships in indian territorial waters she said adding that