A Proposal that would have allowed in-flight cellular phone calls is now on the brink of being completely dismissed as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) aims to ditch the plan entirely. A key federal regulator within the agency mentioned that the proposal would be detrimental to citizens who want to experience some peace and quiet during their flights.
Removing an outdated rule
The proposal to allow in-flight telephone and cellular phone calls was originally proposed back in 2013. The proponents of the rule change called the original policy as being "outdated." The rule to restrict phone calls on commercial board flights was initially put into place back in the early 1990s and has continued to be enforced up to this day.
After the proposal had been presented, the backlash from different groups and labor unions followed accordingly. A majority of the groups and labor unions were opposed to the idea as allowing in-flight calls would result in noisy flights and disturbance to other passengers.
The FCC's stance on the matter
According to the current FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, the proposal itself is "ill-conceived" and should be stopped from taking off entirely. Pai intends to remove the notion permanently.
"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," Pai had said in his statement released earlier this week.
The Policy's ongoing debate
The former chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, had previously mentioned that he was neither for nor against the policy change, but that the decision itself should lie with the various airline companies. He also explained that there was "no technical reasons" to prohibit the use of cellular phones to make phone calls during flights.
However, enforcing the standing policy is still solely up to the individual airline companies.
The current state of the policy
Pai, who was appointed by then-President Obama in 2012, now intends to have the other agencies involved with the regulation to sign off on completely dismissing the proposal. The regulation currently only prohibits the use of mobile phones for outgoing and incoming calls, but it does not prevent other uses of the device. Smartphones are still allowed to be operated as long as they are set in "airplane mode."
