AT&T and Verizon agree to delay 5G rollout over aviation concerns
Telecoms reverse course a day after rejecting US regulators’ request over possible aircraft interference
AT&T and Verizon have agreed to further delay the rollout of 5G wireless services in the US after additional consultation with regulators over the network’s potential interference with aviation safety, in an about-face one day after the telecoms groups vowed they would forge ahead.
Both companies said they would postpone the debut of their ultrafast wireless networks, scheduled for Wednesday, by an additional two weeks, bowing to a request from the transportation department and the Federal Aviation Administration submitted on December 31.
The move was a stunning reversal by the two telecoms, whose chief executives on Sunday pledged in a joint letter to regulators to continue with the scheduled 5G rollout, with service modifications around airports for six months.
Rich Young, a Verizon spokesperson, said the two-week delay “promises the certainty of bringing this nation our game-changing 5G network in January”.
AT&T said it had also agreed to the two-week delay, but added that it “remain[s] committed to the six-month protection zone mitigations we outlined in our letter”.
The FAA in a statement thanked the telecoms groups for agreeing the additional interval and said “we look forward to using the additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment”.
At issue between the telecoms and regulators is potential interference from high-speed wireless service with sensitive aircraft equipment used for flight take-offs and landings.
Both sides agreed to a one-month delay of 5G service from their initial launch date of December 5 2021 to undertake further safety reviews, trading counterproposals in the weeks since.
AT&T and Verizon will implement their planned 5G service modifications around airports in the first half of 2022 in addition to the two-week launch delay, said a person familiar with the matter.
Terms of the service modification, according to the letter sent on Sunday by the chief executives, included blocking 5G spectrum usage around airport runways and reducing connectivity within about a mile of take-off and landing. These are similar to service restrictions in France, where 5G networks are live.