Verizon Communications plans to turn on around 2,000 towers in February in the next phase of its C-Band 5G deployment after talks with U.S. regulators, Reuters news report said.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday it agreed that Verizon and AT&T could safely turn on more 5G towers in a deployment that has been disrupted by aircraft safety concerns.
Verizon turned on about 5,100 towers in January and will be able to turn on about another 2,000 in February.
US-based telecoms had delayed the C-Band 5G deployment, initially planned for early December, due to concerns that the new towers could interfere with sensitive airplane electronics. Verizon agreed in January to not deploy about 500 towers near airports.
Verizon said in January it would initially offer its 5G C-Band service to about 90 million people and promised to expand that to more than 100 million by March 31.
Verizon said on Tuesday it had met the 100 million goal as of Feb. 1 and intended to exceed that goal.
Verizon said it remains committed to very productive discussions with the FAA and others.
The FAA said Friday new data had allowed it to more precisely map the size and shape of the areas around airports where 5G signals are mitigated, shrinking the areas where wireless operators are deferring their antenna activations.
Based on the new revised exclusion zones, Verizon is expected to be able to deploy about 14 percent of the 500 towers held up in January, or around 70 towers.
The FAA is working on a subsequent version of the buffer zones that will allow Verizon to turn on additional towers.
