The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) has said that the U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC) should continue its ban on cell-phone calls during airplane flights. The CTIA says that calls from cell phones during flights have the potential to disrupt other wireless calls.
The CTIA's call comes after the FCC began deliberations on the feasibility of allowing airborne wireless calls on 800MHz phones in December. The FCC is of the opinion that these calls can be made as long as they do not interfere with the ground-to-ground wireless traffic. The CTIA says that such a thing is impossible. The association has advocated leaving the ban in place as it says that the interference will always be there and that there is no known solution to overcome this interference.
CTIA president and CEO Steve Largent issued a statement saying, "The wireless industry remains concerned about potential interference from airborne wireless usage, and until those concerns are met, we encourage the commission to examine this issue further and obtain more information on technical solutions to terrestrial interference. While the industry recognizes the consumer demand for wireless service anytime, anywhere -- even while airborne -- we believe it is more important to ensure wireless networks on the ground, serving more than 182 million consumers, continue operating without interference."
Other groups including Aircraft maker The Boeing Co, have disagreed with the CTIA's assessment. Aircraft telephone service provider AirCell Inc. says that this problem of interference can be fixed through pico cell systems. These systems are specialized cellular base stations installed onboard aircraft.
Mobile handset maker Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson issued a statement through its lawyers saying, "The FCC need not mandate only a single, certain set of technologies to ensure that consumer handsets will not transmit in an unauthorized manner. Rather, the FCC should allow market forces to respond to consumer demands more freely." The CTIA has requested that the restrictions should not be relaxed "unless and until it is demonstrated that such action would not cause harmful interference with existing terrestrial wireless services."
All these parties were responding to Thursday's electronic filing deadline in the FCC proceeding. This proposed rule could take upto a year to frame and then would need a stamp of approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). FAA currently bans the use of cell phones during flights due to fears of potential interference with aircraft navigation and communication equipment.
Meanwhile, the National Consumers League and the Association of Flight Attendants had commissioned a survey during March and April to get the views of the passengers on the ban. 63% of respondents felt that the ban should continue to be in place. The flight attendants group filed its own comments saying that loud noises from cell phones are not conducive to a peaceful environment during flights and said that the ban should continue to be imposed.
