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It used to be the one place where you could get some peace and quiet, but now, at least in Europe, cell phones will be coming to the skies. On Monday the European Commission introduced measures to harmonize the technical and licensing requirements for cell phone use on airplanes. According to the Commission, that means that the 90% of European air passengers that already carry mobile phones will remain reachable during flights.

Martin Selmayr
Spokesman, European Commission
We understand that there is an additional cost because you need to root this service via the on-board cellular network. There is some investment that has to be made. We understand that this service will be a little more expensive than a normal call on the ground. How much this will be? That would have to be decided by competition. The more airlines will offer this service, the lower the price will be for the consumers.

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The airlines themselves will also decide what kind of in flight rules there will be regarding phone use.

Martin Selmayr
It is quite natural, as a fact of modern life, that you have to make sure that there are zones of tranquility and zones where you can use this service. The airlines are testing different models. Some are thinking about only allowing data transmissions like emails and SMS. Others will recommend that mobile phones are put on silent mode. There will also be others that will allow you to talk 24h in the aircraft. This is a question for every airline to decide.

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In order for this technology to work, airlines will need to install a picocell or very small mobile base station and a Network Control Unit. The control unit will stop onboard phones from using land-based cell networks which aren't designed for high speed movement.

Martin Selmayr
In the future it will not be possible under this service that your mobile phone connects directly to the ground. It has to go through the on-board cellular network that can be switched off by the captain at any moment. That enhances the security of passengers. For the equipment, there is a special security certification procedure of European Aviation Safety Authority in Cologne which is making sure that the equipment is sure, safe and respects all standards on-board of aircrafts.

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A number of telecom operators and airlines are planning to launch the new service sometime in 2008. For the IDG News Service I'm Nick Barber in Boston with additional reporting by Mikael Ricknas in Stockholm.