AT&T and Verizon Reject US Request to Delay 5G Deployment

The American telephone operators AT&T and Verizon this Sunday (2) rejected a request by the authorities to postpone the operation of their new 5G frequency bands again, due to concerns from the airline industry.

The launch date for the 5G service, initially scheduled for December 5th, had already been pushed back once to January 5th.

But on Friday (31), US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the head of the aviation regulator, Steve Dickson, asked the two operators for a new suspension for a maximum of two weeks. AT&T and Verizon declined to respond in the affirmative to this request.

“Accepting his proposal would be … an unprecedented and unwarranted evasion of due process,” lamented John Stankey, CEO of AT&T, and Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, in a letter to the AFP news agency had access. The companies also said it would be an irresponsible abdication of the operational control required to deploy communications networks.

The two directors denounced the inaction of the aeronautical sector to study the impact of 5G on their devices. According to them, the attitude gave way to last minute requests. In February 2020, the sector was awarded the 3.7-3.8 GHz frequency bands, after bidding for tens of billions of dollars.

However, AT&T and Verizon directors said they will continue their cooperation with the Transportation Secretariat and all interested parties, as long as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the aviation industry commit to do the same.

Aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing have recently expressed their concern about possible interference from 5G on aircraft radio altimeters.

The two operators argue that planes enter and leave France every day with thousands of American passengers and with the full endorsement of the FAA.

However, the French Civil Aviation Authority last February recommended turning off mobile devices with 5G on board, due to the risk of signal interference, which could cause critical errors during the instrument landing phases. It had also proposed limiting the power of 5G antennas located near certain airports.