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'G'day mate': In-flight mobile goes Down Under

Qantas gets ready for a chinwag...

Tags: mobile, qantas, plane

By Jo Best

Published: 31 August 2006 15:45 BST

After Ryanair's launch earlier this week, in-flight mobility has now travelled Down Under.

Australia's national carrier Qantas has announced it's signing up with local mobile operator Telstra, as well as AeroMobile and Panasonic Avionics Corporation.

Connectivity will be up and running on one Qantas plane from 2007 and passengers will be able to use the service to make voice calls and use text messaging and email on their mobiles.

The technology will be trialled over three months, during which time the airline will be quizzing customers on in-flight mobile connectivity, including establishing protocols on when and where users will be able to use their mobiles during a flight.

The airline hasn't released details of pricing for the service but has said users will need to have roaming enabled, even though the service will initially be trialled domestically.

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