The Federal Communications Commission has taken another incremental step toward allowing in-flight calls and access to mobile data while aboard aircraft. In a formal 68-page filing (PDF) with the Federal Register to be published on Wednesday, the FCC noted that these new proposed rules would be “subject to applicable Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) rules, the choice of whether to enable mobile communications [including data] services using an Airborne Access System and, if so, which specific services to enable.” As we reported in December 2013, the DOT is already looking to ban in-flight voice calls. In a statement, DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx told Ars that because the public is “troubled” about annoying in-flight callers, the agency will “determine if allowing these calls is fair to consumers.”
