![]()
- New ‘Call of Duty’ rakes in $310 million in 1 day
- Intel settles AMD claims but isn't off the hook
- 'Call of Duty' sells $310M in N Amer, UK in 24 hrs
- HP's 3Com takeover marks a shot at Cisco
- Applied Materials to cut 1,300 to 1,500 jobs
- Drug industry presses FDA to allow more online ads
- Watch concerts free online at BillboardLive.com
- Yahoo CEO pledges to boost profit margins
MOST SHARED
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Share Their 'Optimism' With Eager Columbia Business Students
- Meet The Leaders of the New Retail Revolution
- Cities With the Most Home Price Reductions
- Disney Profit, Sales Top Street Forecasts; Shares Jump
- Warren Buffett's $100,000 Offer and $500,000 Advice for Columbia Business School Students
- Housing Recovery 'Still In Uncharted Territory': HUD Secretary
- Despite Rhetoric, Obama Has Limited Options To Boost Jobs
- Disney CFO and Parks Chief to Swap Roles
- Alleged Florida Ponzi Scheme Could Top $1 Billion
- AIG, Symbol of Crisis, Watches Its Stock Zoom Back
- Disney Profit, Sales Top Street Forecasts; Shares Jump
- Cities With the Most Home Price Reductions
- Cramer: The Real Reason Stocks Fell Thursday
- Is Euphoric Market Ignoring Warning Signs?
- Video Game Sales Plunge, but Have They Hit Bottom?
- Despite Rhetoric, Obama Has Few Options to Boost Jobs
- US Debating What to Do With Billions of TARP Money Left
- Alleged Florida Ponzi Scheme Could Top $1 Billion
The European Union on Monday opened the way for air travelers to use mobile phones to talk, text or send e-mails on planes throughout Europe's airspace.
With the approval by EU regulators, airlines will be able to launch onboard mobile services later this year, officials said.
Viviane Reding, the EU's telecommunications commissioner, warned phone operators not to set rates for the service too high and urged airlines to protect passengers from excessive phone use.
"In-flight mobile phone services can be a very interesting new service especially for those business travelers who need to be ready to communicate wherever they are," Reding said.
"However, if consumers receive shock phone bills, the service will not take off." The European Commission, the EU's executive body, said it will keep a close eye to ensure pricing is transparent.
Several airlines, including Air France, have already launched a trial of in-flight mobile phone services on some European routes.
British Midland Airways, Portugal's TAP and low-cost airline Ryanair are also planning to offer services later this year.
Customers Against It
Germany's Lufthansa, however, said Monday it does not want to introduce the service. Surveys had shown that a large majority of customers were against it, Lufthansa spokesman Jan Baerwalde said.
"People don't want to be disturbed," Baerwalde said.
Lufthansa will, however, look at providing fast Internet access on its planes, a service it already offered from 2004 until the end of 2006.
The airline is currently looking for a new service partner to reintroduce the service.
The regulation sets a common standard by which passengers can safely use their mobile phones during flights and airlines will only need to get one license to launch their services across the entire 27-nation bloc.
Most services that are being rolled out this year are being provided by OnAir, a unit of planemaker Airbus.
Their services allow in-air telephone calls above 9,800 feet.
EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said the phone services will not be available during take off or landing or during turbulence.
He said the captain and crew of the plane can control when they want to switch off the onboard network.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates spoke to Columbia students, and Buffett made the students a startling offer.
- They may have wrecked their companies or saved our economy. Tell us what you think.
- Big pharma embraces social media, but how much should a tightly regulated sector say on Facebook or Twitter?
- A European dating site finds lovelorn singles from one country to be consistently uglier. Which is it?
- Contributor David Pogue looks at two of the latest efforts to perfect the digital pocket camera.
- PepsiCo is ramping up its onsite health facilities for workers.











