AT&T, Verizon to Delay 5G Deployment Due to Flight Safety Concerns: US Regulators

Telecom giants AT&T and Verizon agreed to push again deployment of a brand new 5G frequency band to permit time to deal with air security issues, US regulators mentioned Thursday.

The 2 firms will “voluntarily pause” the business rollout “to additional assess any influence on aviation security applied sciences,” the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Fee mentioned in a joint assertion.

The 2 firms had deliberate to start utilizing the 5G community on December 5, after spending tens of billions of {dollars} to buy licenses.

However aviation regulators have apprehensive in regards to the doable interference of the indicators with flight security gear.

The companies pledged “to coordinate intently to make sure that the US retains tempo with the remainder of the world in deploying next-generation communications applied sciences safely and with out undue delay.”

The FAA on Tuesday issued a particular bulletin to plane producers and radio altimeter producers recommending evaluation of potential interference on the 3.7 to three.8 Ghz ranges, in addition to at frequencies between 4.2 and 4.4 GHz.

Airways ought to alert pilots to the “potential degradation” of security programs “dependent upon radio altimeters,” the FAA mentioned.

“There haven’t but been confirmed studies of dangerous interference as a consequence of wi-fi broadband operations internationally, though this difficulty is continuous to be studied,” the FAA mentioned.

AT&T mentioned it will push again deployment to January 5.

“It’s crucial that these discussions be told by the science and the information,” the corporate mentioned in assertion. “That’s the solely path to enabling consultants and engineers to evaluate whether or not any authentic co-existence points exist.”

© Thomson Reuters 2021