AT&T and Verizon have rejected a request by US transportation officials to delay the planned launch next week of their 5G wireless services, but …
AT&T and Verizon have rejected a request by US transportation officials to delay the planned launch next week of their 5G wireless services, but offered to limit the power of their signals for six months, giving regulators more time to study how they could affect aircraft operations. The letter Sunday came in response to a request made Friday by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Steve Dickson, administrator for the US Federal Aviation Administration, asking that the wireless carriers delay the planned launch next week of the services over aviation safety concerns. The face-off over the planned Jan.5 service launch comes amid concern that some 5G signals could interfere with radio altimeters, which use similar signals to measure how far above the ground an airplane is at any given time. Failure to act would result in “widespread and unacceptable disruption as airplanes divert to other cities or flights are canceled, causing ripple effects throughout the US air transportation system,” they warned in a letter (PDF) to the companies’ chief executives.
