AT&T and Verizon are moving ahead with the deployment of their midband 5G spectrum, despite aviation industry concerns.
AT&T and Verizon are moving ahead with the deployment of their midband 5G spectrum as planned, rejecting a request by senior U.S. transportation and aviation officials to delay the rollout by a couple of weeks.
Early last year, AT&T and Verizon successfully acquired substantial chunks of new C-band spectrum put up for auction by the Federal Communications Commission . Over the past year, however, they’ve been facing concerns from a number of commercial aviation groups that these new 5G frequencies sit perilously close to those used by aircraft equipment.
Shortly before that happened, however, both carriers agreed to delay those rollouts into early 2022 “in the spirit of good faith,” as Verizon officials put it. They agreed to work with the FAA and try to address some of its concerns, and even proposed 5G midband power limits to help avoid interference and lower the midband signal power even more near airports and helipads.
The FAA responded in a statement to Reuters, saying that it was “reviewing the latest letter from the wireless companies on how to mitigate interference from 5G C-band transmissions,” adding that “U.S. aviation safety standards will guide our next actions.”