Verizon and AT&T Decline Regulators’ Request to Delay New 5G Services

“Our two companies are deeply committed to public safety and national security, and fortunately, the question of whether 5G operations can safely coexist with aviation has long been settled,” John Stankey, the chief executive of ATT, and Hans Vestberg, Verizon’s chief executive, wrote in a joint letter.

The fight could add to the turmoil that has been plaguing airlines and their passengers in the past week, as carriers battled bad winter weather and a coronavirus wave that thinned their staffing during a peak holiday travel period.

The wireless carriers previously agreed to a 30-day delay of their scheduled December debut of the 5G expansion. Federal officials said they wanted the additional delay to give them time to identify critical airports in need of a buffer zone to temporarily protect their operations.

Verizon and ATT offered an alternate compromise: For six months, until early July, the companies said they would comply with a version of restrictions now in place in France, which would sharply limit the signals at issue around busy airport runways.

The 5G expansion is a major priority for the wireless carriers. Verizon and AT collectively paid more than $70 billion last year at a government auction for access to the so-called C-band spectrum, which will bring their networks greater geographic reach and faster signals. The carriers have not yet said which areas will get the new services this week, or how many customers they will cover, but Verizon said last month that it expected its new spectrum to reach 100 million customers by March. ATT has said it plans to reach at least 70 million people in the United States by the end of this year.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/02/business/verizon-att-5g-planes.html