(Bloomberg) — AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. will delay their rollout of fast 5G service on some airwaves after U.S. aviation regulators raised concerns it might interfere with aircraft electronics, federal officials said.
“Today Verizon and AT&T announced that they will voluntarily pause commercial launch” of the service “to further assess any impact on aviation safety technologies,” the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission said in a joint statement.
The companies confirmed the 30-day delay to Jan. 5.
The carriers’ move followed a warning the FAA issued to aviators on Tuesday that “action might be required to address potential interference with sensitive aircraft electronics” from new service on the airwaves in question, known as the C-band.
The 5G spectrum is near radio signals used by radar altimeters, devices that measure how close an aircraft is to the ground. The FCC earlier cleared mobile providers to use the airwaves they obtained by spending billions of dollars at a federal auction.
The carriers’ decision to delay the service was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal.
While FAA took pains to say it is working with the FCC and other agencies to allow the new technology to safely coexist with aviation, the safety alert creates an unusual situation in which one agency raises concerns while another has granted its approval. It also illustrates growing frustration within the aviation industry.
Canada recently imposed restrictions on locating new 5G cell towers near the runways of large airports. Australia, France and other nations have taken steps to limit the chances of aircraft interference.
Radar altimeters are used on planes and helicopters for multiple critical safety functions, including landing when visibility is low, anti-collision warnings and systems that warn pilots when they inadvertently get too low. Some commercial helicopter flights can’t operate without a working radar altimeter.
The FAA bulletin said pilots should remind passengers to place any 5G device into airplane mode or switch them off during flight, and to notify the agency of any signs of interference.
The new 5G spectrum, called C-Band, can become operational on Dec. 5. The FCC awarded wireless network providers access to the radio bands in a February auction.
RTCA Inc., a Washington-based nonprofit that studies technical aviation issues, in a report last year concluded that the potential for interference created a safety hazard. It found “significant impacts throughout the approach with the potential for catastrophic effects.”
The FAA bulletin said there have been no confirmed reports of interference.
In comments to the FCC, aviation industry representatives have said that it would take years to develop new standards for radar altimeters and then replace or upgrade them.
On Thursday, the U.S. agencies in their statement pledged to “continue to coordinate closely to ensure that the United States keeps pace with the rest of the world in deploying next-generation communications technologies safely and without undue delay.”
(Updates with statement from agencies starting in first paragraph.)
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