In Flight Cell Phone Ban Could Hurt U.S. Competitiveness, According to Freesky Research

In Flight Cell Phone Ban Could Hurt U.S. Competitiveness, According to Freesky
Research

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the last year, close to a
dozen airlines have announced plans to allow passengers to send text messages
from their own cell phones. Passengers in Australia, France, Turkey, Ireland,
Malaysia, India, and other countries are now using mobile devices in flight,
or will be able to do so sometime in 2008. However, passengers in the United
States will have to wait.
While many point to interference with ground networks, or the
intrusiveness of chatty seat mates, the ability to send data to the ground is
allowing Middle Eastern, Asian, and European business travelers greater
chances to be productive on commercial jets than U.S. fliers, who are
constrained by the FCC ban on cell phones in flight.
"Independent agencies have been testing mobile devices' interference with
cockpit communications and navigation equipment for the last five years. But
with live systems now installed on passenger planes in a variety of countries,
there is growing operational evidence that picocell-based systems can allow
phones to be used in flight without harming a ground network or an aircraft's
avionics bus," according to David Gross, author of two reports that have
looked at the matter. "We know Wi-Fi is safe, particularly with some airlines
using the technology internally to connect cabin security cameras to
Electronic Flight Bags in the cockpit. However, GSM and CDMA are becoming
equally important as text messaging is emerging as one of the first major
applications for in flight connectivity. As long as the United States
maintains its current policy banning cellular antennas from being used on
jets, it is allowing other countries to leap ahead with in flight
productivity, while facing mounting evidence that there is no safety benefit
to passengers."
The analysis of U.S. competitiveness in the sky is part of the firm's
recent report, "In Flight Text Messaging" as well as its forthcoming study
"Airborne Picocell Networks". More information about Freesky Research and the
in flight connectivity industry is available at
http://www.freeskyresearch.com.
About Freesky Research
Based in the Washington, DC area, Freesky Research is an industry analyst
firm covering data communications in air & space.
Press Release Contact Information:
Janet Hill
Director of Sales
Freesky Research LLC
703.994.4861
airdata@freeskyresearch.com

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SOURCE Freesky Research LLC

Janet Hill, Director of Sales of Freesky Research LLC, +1-703-994-4861,
airdata@freeskyresearch.com