Verizon, AT&t delay new 5 G wireless service near airports

T&T and Verizon will postpone new wireless service near some airports planned for this week, after the nation s largest airlines said the service would interfere with aircraft technology and cause massive flight disruptions.

The companies said Tuesday they would delay turning on new cell towers around runways at some airports - they did not say how many — and work with federal regulators to settle a dispute over potential interference from new 5 G service.

The airline industry raised the stakes in a showdown with AT&T and Verizon over plans to launch new 5 G wireless service this week, warning that thousands of flights could be grounded or delayed if the rollout takes place near major airports.

The CTIA, a trade group for the telecom industry, did not respond to requests for comment.

The CEOs of the nation's largest airlines said on Monday that interference from the wireless service will be worse than they originally thought.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has previously taken the airlines side in the matter, said in a letter to federal officials, including Transportation Secretary John Buttigieg, that the nation s commerce will grind to a halt unless the service is blocked near major airports.

The airlines asked that the new, faster mobile service be banned within two miles of runways.

AT&T and Verizon planned to activate their 5 G wireless service Wednesday after two previous delays from the original plan for an early December rollout.

The new high-speed 5 G service uses a segment of the radio spectrum that is close to that used by altimeters, which are devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground. Pilots use altimeters to land when visibility is poor, and they link to other systems on planes.

AT&T and Verizon say their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics, and that the technology is safe and is being used in many other countries.

The CEOs of 10 passenger and cargo airlines, including American, Delta, United and Southwest, say 5 G will be more disruptive than originally thought because dozens of large airports that were to have buffer zones to prevent 5 G interference with aircraft, which will still be subject to flight restrictions announced last week by the Federal Aviation Administration. They say that restrictions won't be limited to times when visibility is poor.

The vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will be grounded if our major hubs are cleared to fly. The CEOs said that more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subject to delays and cancellations on a day like yesterday.

The new 5 G be stopped within two miles of airport runways, according to the airline CEOs.

The showdown between the two industries and their rival regulators - the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees radio spectrum - threatens to disrupt the aviation industry, which has been hammered by the Pandemic for nearly two years.

This was a crisis that was years in the making.

The FAA and the airline industry say they have tried to raise alarms about possible interference from 5 G C-Band but the FCC has ignored them.

The FCC, the telecoms, and their supporters argue that C-Band and aircraft altimeters are far enough apart from each other on the radio spectrum to avoid interference. They also say that the aviation industry has known about C-Band technology for several years, but did nothing to prepare — airlines chose not to upgrade altimeters that could be subject to interference, and the FAA didn't begin surveying equipment on planes until the last few weeks.

After T-Mobile acquired mid-band spectrum from its acquisition of Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon, they spent billions of dollars for C-Band spectrum in a government auction run by the FCC to shore up their own mid-band needs, and then spent billions more to build out new networks that they planned to launch in early December.

In response to concerns by the airlines, they agreed to delay the service until early January.

Late on New Year's Eve, Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson asked the companies for another delay, warning of unacceptable disruption to air service.

AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg rejected the request in a letter that had a scolding, even mocking tone. After intervention reached the White House, they had second thoughts. They agreed to a second, shorter delay, but implied that there would be no more compromises.

The telecoms agreed to reduce the power of their networks near 50 airports for a period of six months, similar to wireless restrictions in France. The Transportation Department and the FAA said they would not oppose the rollout of 5 G C-Band.

President Joe Biden praised the deal but the airlines weren't satisfied with it, citing it as a victory for the telecoms that didn't address their concerns about trying to land planes at airports where the new service would be active.