Most people will be aware of the annoyance of sitting next to someone on a train or bus who persists in rabbiting all too loudly into their mobile phone. Dom Joly effectively satirised the situation in his comedy series, and now the trend seems to be about to migrate to UK and European flights, following a recent report by the BBC.

UK regulator Ofcom has been given approval to provide airlines with mobile services on UK-registered flights, which would allow the public to use their mobile once the plane reached an altitude of 3,000 feet.

A base station on the plane's tail would be activated after takeoff, creating a zone of mobile coverage that would stop working once the aircraft leaves European airspace. Initially only second generation networks will be supported, so 3G services will have to wait until early trials prove successful.

Predictably there will be an increased cost in making a call in mid-air, which will probably work in a similar way to roaming charges, so expect, at least initially, to be stung by extortionate call rates until providers dumb things down to try to appeal to a wider audience.