AT&T and Verizon Launch Mid-Band 5G, Agree to Even More Airport Restrictions

At long last, AT&T and Verizon have been allowed to light up their shiny new C-band 5G networks. Alas, the coverage isn’t what the carriers might have hoped for. The carriers made a number of concessions late last year and earlier this month to assuage the FAA’s fears of C-band interference with airplane electronics, but in the end, AT&T and Verizon have agreed to shut off C-band around all US airports for the time being. This allows them to begin the C-band rollout everywhere else.

We’ve had 5G in the US for several years now, so why all the concern over these new frequencies? The C-band sits in the lower 4GHz range, which is ideal for 5G service—it’s got higher capacity than low-band and stronger propagation than millimeter wave. The C-band was used in satellite TV long ago, but the spectrum was reassigned to cellular services and auctioned in early 2021.

From the start of the process, the FAA was made aware of the possible issues with higher C-band transmission power. Specifically, that the C-band is adjacent to a block of frequencies reserved for radio altimeters, a vital part of automated landing systems in aircraft. Old or poorly maintained altimeters could theoretically pick up interference from C-band 5G signals. So, the carriers agreed to a delay late last year while the stakeholders worked out a solution, and it seemed like they had.

As of earlier this month, the FAA and carriers had agreed to 5G exclusion zones around 50 busy airports for six months. This would allow for additional testing while eliminating any potential issue with flights. However, a last-minute letter to regulators from the CEOs of all the major US airlines threw a wrench into the works. In it, the firms claim that deploying C-band near any airport represented an unacceptable risk. After initially resisting (again), the carriers realized that was futile and agreed to the expanded restrictions.

The 5G airplane apocalypse, or whatever, is upon us and things seem mostly normal? Here’s a look at all 777 activity around the US, they’re most certainly not grounded by NOTAMs.

Plenty of them are inbound to JFK, though some airlines did sub 777s out to other aircraft. pic.twitter.com/FEJNyXadKM

— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) January 19, 2022

The management of AT&T and Verizon are both upset, judging from their salty statements on the matter. “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 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 in a statement. For their part, airlines claim that activating C-band networks around airports would cause “hundreds of thousands of flight cancellations and disruptions for customers across the industry in 2022.” Although, there haven’t been any yet.

This tale is not over yet. The carriers will be anxious to light up the rest of their 5G towers, especially as T-Mobile continues to build on the mountain of mid-band spectrum it picked up in the Sprint acquisition. These multi-billion-dollar companies will just have to wait a little longer to play with their newest toy.

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