AT&T and Verizon have agreed to scale back or postpone the launch of 5G wireless service near airport runways after an eleventh-hour outcry from the aviation industry.
Airlines had warned that the debut of high-speed 5G technology, scheduled for Wednesday, could interfere with aircraft safety and navigation systems. United Airlines and American Airlines said earlier on Tuesday that they were preparing to cancel flights if the rollout went ahead.
AT&T said it had voluntarily agreed to “temporarily defer turning on” a limited number of 5G-enabled towers around “certain airport runways” as it provides more information to airlines and regulators, but added it was launching its advanced 5G services elsewhere as planned.
Verizon also said it would launch its 5G “ultra wideband” network on Wednesday, but had voluntarily decided to limit it “around airports”, without specifying the number of airports.
Both telecoms companies expressed frustration with US regulators after repeatedly delaying their planned launch of 5G — first from December 5 to January 5 and then for two more weeks, to Wednesday, at the request of regulators.
“The Federal Aviation Administration and our nation’s airlines have not been able to fully resolve navigating 5G around airports, despite it being safe and fully operational in more than 40 other countries,” Verizon said.
The long-anticipated debut of high-speed 5G service in the US has been marked by tension between the aviation and telecoms sectors and put pressure on the White House to end the impasse.
President Joe Biden said the telecoms’ companies agreement to limit 5G service “protects flight safety and allows aviation operations to continue without significant disruption and will bring more high-speed internet options to millions of Americans”.
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, earlier said the administration was seeking to chart a “path forward”, adding: “We certainly understand what’s at stake for both industries.”
5G is already in service in other countries. But in the the US, the radio frequency band allocated for 5G is closer to the bandwidth used in avionics than in other regions including Europe, while the FAA has also noted other differences including 5G’s operating power levels in the US.
US aviation officials warned that 5G could threaten the accuracy of altimeters, which measure an aircraft’s altitude and are critical for taking off and landing in poor weather.
Aeroplane manufacturers have since indicated to airlines that the concern was not limited to poor weather, according to one airline industry official.
“Because radio altimeters provide critical information to other safety and navigation systems in modern aeroplanes, multiple modern safety systems on aircraft will be deemed unusable, causing a much larger problem than we knew on January 5,” US airline executives wrote in a letter to the FAA and Federal Communications Commission on Monday.
Airlines for America, an industry lobbying group, spoke of “chaos” for passengers and “incalculable disruptions” to supply chains.
Airlines said they were preparing to cancel flights early on Tuesday before AT&T and Verizon agreed to scale back their 5G plans. David Seymour, American Airlines’ chief operating officer, wrote in an internal letter seen by the Financial Times that the company was “incredibly disappointed that we are at this point”.
AT&T criticised the aviation industry and the FAA, saying they “had not utilised the two years they’ve had to responsibly plan for this deployment”.
Additional reporting by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York and James Politi in Washington