Indian government refuses to allow in-flight Wi-Fi

If you were hopeful that you could check-in on Facebook at 36,000 feet or even polish your sales pitch last-minute after boarding your flight in India, you might have to wait a little longer. Or perhaps, indefinitely.

After promises of allowing in-flight internet connectivity last August, the Indian government has refused to go ahead with the reform citing security concerns.

A Wall Street Journal report stated that despite calls from the industry, and certifications from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory bodies, India will continue to ban Wi-Fi on civilian flights.

A spokesperson close to Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey has said that though the aviation ministry was in favour of relaxing the norms, approvals from the “communications ministry” were still pending.

The government’s stand on the issue is yet unclear much to the dismay of domestic carriers like Jet Airways that had announced the roll-out of in-flight Wi-Fi services back in February.

Indian laws in this regard are so stringent that even international flights are required to turn off their internet services when they fly over the Indian airspace.

The report further states that it is the “home-affairs ministry that (had) been the barrier to lifting the prohibition and officials in other agencies were in favour of change.”

Most countries in the world, including India’s neighbours China and Pakistan, allow in-flight connectivity in their respective airspace.

While aviation technology specialists insist that mid-air Wi-Fi is an internationally tried-and-tested process and dismiss all security concerns as “spurious”, the Indian government continues to be haunted by the Kandahar hijack incident from 15 years ago.

But for a nation that boasts of a burgeoning internet population, the world’s second-largest only behind China, this is a major irony.