Swedish National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) said on June 14, 2006 it granted Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor ASA a licence to launch GSM services onboard Swedish aircraft.
The licence is the first of its kind for Sweden and one of the first in Europe, PTS said.
It refers to the GSM 1800 technology.

Telenor will be able to install a base station inside aircraft, from where the signal will be transferred to a satellite, which will forward it to the terrestrial network.

The licence is subject to certain technological requirements for onboard security, including that the signal from the mobile phone would not reach the terrestrial network directly. The Swedish air traffic authorities also have to certify the technology before it is put into use.

The licence will run for a year, pending the acceptance of the regulations for using mobile phones onboard aircraft by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), due within a year.