Verizon, AT&T agreed to limit 5G midband power to avoid aircraft interference

Both Verizon and AT&T have agreed to temporarily reduce the power of their new mid-band 5G towers, following concerns from the aviation industry, eliminating fears that the new spectrum could be used for equipment in commercial and military aircraft.

When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced plans to auction off a new segment of the C-band spectrum last year, several commercial aviation groups expressed concern that these new 5G frequencies could lead to catastrophic failures in avionics.

As a result, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. The Department of Transportation has jointly called on the FCC to suspend the auction until a more comprehensive investigation into the matter can take place.

However, the FCC went so far as to disagree with studies suggesting that the concentration of 5G telecommunications in the new 3.7–3.98GHz C-band may end up in the 4.2–4.4GHz range used by aviation equipment such as radar altimeters.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon and AT&T had agreed to delay their mid-band 5G rollout in early 2022 at the request of FAA officials. According to the WSJ, Verizon and AT&T have sent a joint letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenvorsel calling for six months to re-energize their 5G cell towers to give aviation security researchers time to further study the effects of the new spectrum.

AT&T and Verizon are both on track to launch their new mid-band 5G deployments on January 5, 2022, and officials note that they do not expect temporary restrictions during the initial rollout to have any serious impact on bandwidth.