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Europeans, aviation heavyweights US cellular providers on possible 5G interference with vital flight safety systems.
US telecom companies delayed the launch of the new service on December 5 for a month after the update. Federal Aviation Administration Issued a last-minute warning that base station emissions near airports could interfere with aircraft auto-landing systems and altimeters, the device displays an aircraft’s altitude.
Aircraft manufacturers say they still need more time to address the issue, saying using technology prematurely could cause an airline disaster.
Top trade group for the airline industry, airlines to america, made an emergency request on Thursday Federal Communications Commission to delay the launch.
But Steffen Ring, a Copenhagen telecommunications consultant working on the European Commission’s 5G rollout, said that while the European Union rollout is well underway, cell service upgrades are not an issue for flight safety across the Atlantic.
Mr Ring said concerns were raised about possible 5G interference with aircraft, possibly in response to the back and forth on the issue in the United States, as delegates from all over Europe met for a plenary session in November.
But there was little to discuss.
“No one made a sound,” he said. “There was absolute silence in the room. Forty-eight countries were participating, and there was absolute silence in the hall.”
Mr Ring said: FAA‘s directives on the matter sent shockwaves around the world, and he said many European countries have begun work on 5G emissions near airports, given the concerns voiced in the US.
But he said there are no plans to slow distribution in Europe. And he thinks further pauses in the US would be overkill.
“Unless there is solid evidence, everything is proceeding according to plan,” he said. “The European Commission is very enthusiastic about this progress.”
Cell providers in the US agree.
In a letter this month, AT&T and Verizon executives pointed out that the same C-band spectrum allocated for 5G in the US is being used for 5G in dozens of other countries and that no aircraft has been tampered with. FCC President Jessica Rosenworcel.
Executives Joan Marsh, AT&T Vice President of Federal Regulatory Affairs, and Kathleen Grillo, Verizon Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs, also wrote that there were “no anomalies” in live flight tests conducted by the French military and the Norwegian Communications Authority.
After bombing more than $81 billion FCC service licenses in February, US cellular providers are struggling a bit to light up the new frequency on Jan. However, after delaying their original presentation last month, aircraft manufacturers continued to sound the alarm.
On Tuesday, Boeing’s Dave Calhoun and Airbus Americas’ Jeff Knittel co-signed a letter to Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg warning that continuing with the rollout of 5G could have “an enormous negative impact on the aviation industry.” FCC does not take additional security measures.
Cell phone providers say fears have been exaggerated about 5G zapping flight altimeters and automated systems that help planes land.
AT&T and Verizon have proposed additional measures to limit cell tower emissions near airports, but aviation experts say the measures don’t go far enough.
airlines to america said FAA otherwise, he would have had to land thousands of flights when the deployment began. FCC and telecoms come to the table with a viable solution. The group said the restrictions would affect more than 35,000 passenger flights and cost more than $1.7 billion in annual operating costs.
But Ms. Marsh and Ms. Grillo said timely rollout of the technology is “critical to US global leadership.”
“China’s current market position for 5G equipment has raised not only economic concerns, but also fears over whether vulnerabilities in Chinese equipment could pose a threat to national interests beyond simple third-party hacking,” they wrote in the letter. “Unfortunately, any delay in the rollout of C-band for 5G will not only undermine US 5G leadership, but will also undermine US technology leadership’s credibility and potentially undermine US efforts to promote globalization of a more secure and reliable communications infrastructure.”
Meredith Attwell Baker, President and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, said in a November article that further delay could lead to real harm. He said a one-year delay would cut $50 billion in economic growth “just like our nation recovering from the pandemic and rebuilding.”
This FAA and the aviation industry, he said, forcing him to make “the wrong choice that the US didn’t need to make.”
In a joint statement from CTIA, airlines to america, and the Aerospace Industries Association, announced that the groups will “work together to share available data from all parties to identify specific areas of concern for aviation.”
“The best technical experts from both industries will work together to define a path forward. FAA and FCC“Our belief is that, by working collaboratively in good faith on a data-driven solution, we can achieve our shared goal of deploying 5G while protecting aviation security.”
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Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Mr. Ring’s name.
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