Friday, December 27, 2019

Vistara partners with Nelco for inflight data services; likely to launch shortly: Telecom Secy

New Delhi: Vistara has partnered with Tata group company Nelco for inflight data services, which are expected to be rolled by the full service carrier shortly, according to a senior government official.
Nearly five years after starting operations, Vistara -- a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines -- is also likely to be the first domestic carrier to provide inflight connectivity within India.

Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash said required spectrum has been allocated for the purpose.

"Vistara has tied up with Nelco and they have taken transponder space from ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation)...they had come to us for spectrum allocation which we have done. And they will be launching these services very shortly," he said.

When contacted, a Vistara spokesperson said, "we have not finalised this yet," referring to launch of the services.

An email sent to Nelco seeking comments did not elicit any immediate response and the company''s spokespersons were also unavailable.

While airlines can offer both voice and data connectivity under the ''Flight and Maritime Connectivity Rules-2018'' notified by the government in December 2018, data connectivity is expected to be offered first, Prakash said.

"There can also be voice but voice is not happening right now. Still data is as good as voice, because once you have data you can use Over-The-Top (OTT) and make WhatsApp calls," he noted.
27/112/19 PTI/Outlook

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