The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that Verizon Communications and AT&T have voluntarily agreed to delay some C-Band 5G usage until July 2023 as air carriers work to retrofit airplanes to ensure they will not face interference.
Verizon and AT&T, the leading carriers in the U.S., agreed in January to delay through July 5 switching on some wireless towers and depowering others near airports.
Verizon and AT&T did not reveal the revised Capex in the wake of the delay in rolling out some of its 5G equipments.
Verizon said on Friday that the new agreement will allow it to lift the voluntary limitations on our 5G network deployment around airports in a staged approach over the coming months meaning even more consumers and businesses will benefit from the tremendous capabilities of 5G technology.
AT&T said with the FAA it had developed a more tailored approach to controlling signal strength around runways that allows us to activate more towers and increase signal strength. AT&T said it voluntarily chosen in good faith to implement these more tailored precautionary measures so that airlines have additional time to retrofit equipment.
There are concerns that the 5G service could interfere with airplane altimeters, which give data on a plane’s height above the ground and are crucial for bad-weather landing, led to disruptions at some U.S. airports earlier this year.
