CNN Business
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The nation’s largest mobile carriers have said they will no longer delay the rollout of 5G wireless services near airports, raising tensions between transportation officials and the telecommunications industry ahead of a key deadline this week that could lead to widespread flight delays and diversions across the United States.
In a letter reviewed by CNN on Sunday, the CEOs of Verizon and AT&T (which owns CNN parent WarnerMedia) proposed applying restrictions similar to those used near airports in France to their 5G antennas for six months. But the companies rejected requests from the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration to postpone the launch date of 5G service in a critical band of radio frequency known as the C-band to Jan. 5.
“Essentially, your proposed framework would require us to agree to transfer oversight of billions of dollars of investments in 50 (name withheld) metropolitan areas that represent the majority of the U.S. population to the FAA for an indeterminate period of time (months or years),” the companies wrote. “Agreeing to your proposal would not only represent an unprecedented and unjustified circumvention of the carefully crafted due process and checks and balances within the fabric of our democracy, but would also represent an irresponsible abdication of the operational control necessary to deploy a world-class, globally competitive communications network.”
The airline had previously postponed the start date from December 5, 2021 to January 5, 2022.
Transportation officials and the aviation industry have expressed concern about the impact 5G communications could have on radar altimeters, a piece of equipment on aircraft that relies on radio signals to tell pilots how far they are from the ground.
In December, the FAA issued an emergency warning, saying it would ban the use of radar altimeters during poor visibility around airports with 5G antennas, saying potential interference could prevent landings in some circumstances. The FAA did not specify which airports would be affected by the rule at the time, but it estimated that the ban would affect thousands of aircraft and warned that it would cause significant disruption to air travelers. Aviation industry groups echoed the warnings of an impending crisis, saying hundreds of thousands of flights and tens of millions of passengers could be diverted or delayed.
“Without appropriate mitigation measures, the deployment of 5G near airports could disrupt up to 345,000 passenger flights, affecting 32 million travelers, as well as potentially affecting 5,400 cargo flights each year through delays, diversions and cancellations,” said Carter Yang, a spokesman for Airlines for America, a trade group representing US passenger and cargo airlines. “We continue to urge the FCC and the communications industry to work with the FAA and the aviation industry to find practical solutions that prioritize safety and allow for the deployment of 5G technology while avoiding any disruptions to the aviation system.”
But the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees the use of the U.S. airwaves, concluded after a years-long study that there was little risk of interference because the frequencies used by radar altimeters are separated from those used for 5G by more than 200 megahertz of blank “guard band” spectrum. The aviation industry and the FAA also participated in the FCC review process, which ultimately led to the approval of 5G in the C-band in 2020.
Telecommunications industry groups say 5G in the C-band spectrum has already been rolled out around the world and no accidents involving 5G and aviation have been reported anywhere.
“The laws of physics are the same in the United States and France,” AT&T and Verizon wrote on Sunday. “If U.S. airlines are permitted to fly daily in France, they should be permitted under similar operating conditions in the United States.”
The FAA and DOT did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
