AT&T and Verizon said Monday they will delay activating new 5G wireless service for two weeks following a request by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who cited the airline industry’s concern that the service could interfere with systems on planes.
The announcement reversed the companies’ decision just a day earlier to reject any postponement in new 5G service.
In a statement Monday night, AT&T also repeated its promise to further reduce power of the networks around airports — an approach used in France — for six months to give regulators more time to study potential interference with aviation.
“We know aviation safety and 5G can co-exist and we are confident further collaboration and technical assessment will allay any issues,” AT&T spokeswoman said in a statement.
A Verizon spokesman said the two-week delay would ensure “the certainty” of rolling out the new service later in January.
AT&T and Verizon had planned to launch the new 5G service on Wednesday in many U.S. cities.
On Friday, Buttigieg and Stephen Dickson, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, asked the companies to delay their C-band 5G rollout for up to two weeks. They warned that without a delay, there would be “unacceptable disruption” to aviation because flights would be canceled or diverted to other cities to avoid potential risks to air safety.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks to the media during a visit to the Georgia Ports Authority's Megarail facility, in this file photo from Friday, Dec., 17, 2021 in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)
The officials' warning followed a request by a major airline trade group to delay the 5G rollout. Airlines for America told the Federal Communications Commission that using C-band 5G near dozens of airports could interfere with devices that measure an airplane’s height above the ground. The group said it had raised the issue before but was given little attention by the FCC.
Other aviation groups also raised alarms. Joe DePete, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, said Monday night, “It’s clear that this irresponsible rollout of 5G wasn’t ready for takeoff.”
The conflict between telecommunications companies and airlines — and between the FCC and the FAA — involves a type of 5G service that relies on chunks of radio spectrum called C-Band, which wireless carriers spent billions of dollars to buy up last year.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
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At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
