Hannibal Hanschke / reuters
Several U.S. airlines have jointly warned that if the local carrier AT&T and Verizon launch the new C-Band 5G network as scheduled on the 19th, it may cause “catastrophic transportation chaos”. In this letter obtained by Reuters, the CEOs of many large passenger and cargo companies including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, etc. issued a warning to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) simultaneously. , said that the interference from the 5G base station will affect the operation of the equipment on the plane and cause safety hazards. If the surrounding of the main airport cannot be guaranteed without interference, most of the passenger and cargo operations will be forced to be grounded. They also want the FAA to “intervene immediately” to avoid disruption to supply chains and travel.
In fact, this problem has surfaced since early 2021 when AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon spent a total of $80 billion to capture the newly opened C-Band frequency band (3.7~4.2GHz). The aviation radar altimeter in the United States uses the frequency of 4.2GHz to 4.4GHz, which is close to the C-Band. Although the frequency that the FCC has opened for 5G use is only 3.7~3.98GHz, there is still a 200MHz buffer from 4.2GHz, but airlines are still worried. It will interfere with the use of the altimeter, affecting flight safety in rain, snow, fog, and navigation when approaching landing. To this end, airlines have asked AT&T and Verizon not to provide service within two miles (3.2 kilometers) of the busiest airports in the United States, but the busiest airports are also often densely populated areas, so there is no positive response .
As with many of these things, there’s always someone trying to fix a problem until it’s on fire. It was not until the beginning of November, when there was only one month left before the original opening of the new frequency band on December 5, the FAA asked the telecom operators to delay the opening of the frequency for one month. of older equipment, but apparently that wasn’t enough, so on January 4, the carriers reluctantly agreed to a two-week delay to January 19. During this period, the FAA drew a 5G “buffer” around 50 airports to reduce risk, but it is clear that airlines are still not satisfied.
So far, it has basically looked at the actions of the FAA, but in the latest letter, the aviation industry also warned the FCC, and it can be said that it hopes to put pressure on the telecommunications industry through the competent authorities of the telecommunications industry. But to be fair, the telecom operators have been actively cooperating, and have postponed it many times. It seems that it is unreasonable for telecom operators or customers to prevent the new 5G frequency band from going online. How to solve this is really nerve-racking.
