AT&T and Verizon reject the US Transportation Secretary's and FAA's request to delay rolling out new 5G services near airports, but may pause some deployments
The FAA and Transportation Secretary had sought a January 5 postponement over aviation-safety concerns. AT&T and Verizon's initial resistance turned the planned launch into an immediate operational dispute between carriers, airlines and aviation regulators.
The standoff was short-lived: the companies agreed to a two-week delay the next day, and later restricted expansion around airports. That sequence shows why the initial refusal mattered: a nationwide network launch was being negotiated airport by airport.
First-order effects
Airlines faced the prospect of flight disruptions while AT&T and Verizon weighed selective pauses near airports against their planned 5G rollout.
The FAA and Transportation Department gained immediate leverage through aviation-safety warnings, even without securing the requested delay at first.
Second-order effects
Carrier resistance gave way to a two-week launch postponement, making aviation operations a near-term constraint on where and when the two companies could activate service.
Airport-area limits shifted the burden from a single launch decision to geographically targeted coordination among the carriers, airlines and the FAA.
Third-order effects
The later agreement to defer some C-Band use while airlines retrofit radio altimeters points to a durable coexistence model in which 5G deployment timing is tied to aircraft-equipment readiness.
If that model persists, spectrum rollouts near safety-critical infrastructure will be governed less by nationwide launch dates than by regulator-approved mitigation zones and upgrade schedules.
The trend: C-Band 5G deployment is becoming a coordinated infrastructure rollout, with aviation-safety requirements determining where service can be activated first.
Thank goodness: No more delays for #5G in C-Band! We can have safe wireless and safe flights. Reasoned people should accept US wireless industry not have more C-Band limitations than France. AT&T, Verizon CEOs reject U.S. request for 5G deployment delay https://www.reuters.com/..…
“AT&T, Verizon CEOs reject US request for 5G deployment delay... 'If US airlines are permitted to operate flights every day in France, then the same operating conditions should allow them to do so in the United States” - https://www.reuters.com/...
AT&T and Verizon are refusing to delay the implementation of new 5G technology that airlines fear will interfere with their electronics. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
The CEOs of the two telecom giants also said in a joint letter Sunday (Jan 2) that they would be willing to commit to a 6-month pause in #5G deployment near certain airports that will be selected in negotiations with US officials and the aviation industry. https://www.bloomberg.c…
FCC commissioner Carr rejects @SecretaryPete call for @ATT @Verizon to delay Jan. 5 5G deployment: “Your request for delay is not backed up by the science, engineering or law.” The FCC “should reject the recent request for stay” filed by @AirlinesDotOrg https://www.reuters.com/..…
This is the right move to successfully implement 5G without using the traveling public (and the crews on their flights) as Guinea pigs for two systems that need to coexist without questions for safety. Thanks @SecretaryPete and @FAA_Steve. Cheers to a positive solution with @FCC …
It's starting to look like the well organized, properly staffed @FAANews is outplaying the understaffed @FCC. Do Congress and the President care at all? https://twitter.com/...
Breaking: @SecretaryPete @FAA_Steve write CEOs of @att @verizon offering proposal and seek 5G deployment delay: “We ask that your companies continue to pause introducing commercial C-Band service for an additional short period of no more than two weeks” https://www.reuters.com/..…
Is the Department of Transportation speaking for the Executive Branch? Or are we still in a situation where each Cabinet Department is allowed to publicly pursue an independent spectrum policy? https://twitter.com/...