Congress Says No With FCC Set to Go on In-Flight Calls

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler isn’t backing down on letting US airline passengers make phone calls even as members of Congress and members of the public say, “No.”

The agency is set to take a preliminary vote on ending its voice-calling ban after commissioners return from a House hearing whose leader said he’ll make Wheeler’s move a “spirited topic of discussion.” The chairman of a House committee overseeing aviation introduced legislation Dec. 9 to prohibit passengers from making voice calls. Chairman Wheeler isn’t budging. “There’s a lot of noise around this issue right now and people clearly do care about it,” said Paul Gallant, Washington-based managing director for Guggenheim Securities. “But this is totally an airline call, and a year from now people will forget the FCC ever had a role in this.” The FCC vote Dec 12 would open a period for public comment; a second vote would be needed to end the ban.