Airline Industry Seeks Extended Delay on C-Band Deployments

and warned that talks could be at an impasse. AT&T and Verizon voluntarily agreed in June to continue interference mitigations around airports through July 2023 (see 2206210059), but the aviation interests ask that protections be extended through the end of 2023. The new restrictions could apply to other carriers, including T-Mobile and UScellular, that take possession next year of the licenses they bought in the C-band auction. Their bids were dwarfed by Verizon’s and AT&T’s, but T-Mobile committed $9.3 billion to C-band spectrum and UScellular almost $1.3 billion. The letter was addressed to National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and top officials at the Commerce and Transportation departments, the FAA and the NTIA, but not the FCC. The FCC declined comment Wednesday. “After a year of discussions and despite accommodations made by all parties, we are now seven months away from the next deadline, with significant risks still unresolved,” said the letter, dated Tuesday: “We believe that by finding accommodations now, we can prevent another last-minute herculean intervention by the Administration and major disruption to our air transport system.” The aviation industry supports 5G deployment, but “we will not compromise aviation safety,” the letter said. The letter notes the FAA verified that certain aircraft radio altimeters (RAs) are susceptible to interference from 5G signals. “Since January 2022 the FAA has documented over 100 FAA incidents of potential 5G interference, the majority of which were found to have a direct RA impact resulting in safety alerts by systems such as the Terrain Avoidance Warning System,” the letter said. It said that “US government agencies do not appear to be on the same page with respect to these safety issues” and “aviation stakeholders are caught in the middle.” The coalition signing the letter included the Aerospace Industries Association, the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute, the Air Line Pilots Association, Airbus, the Aircraft Electronics Association, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Airlines for America, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Garmin, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the International Air Transport Association, the National Air Carrier Association and Thales. AT&T and Verizon didn't comment. “You should expect us to have C band pretty much everywhere we have the 4G network today,” Verizon Chief Financial Officer Matt Ellis said at a Morgan Stanley European conference Wednesday. He wasn't asked about the aviation industry letter. Verizon covered 160 million POPs with C band Q3 and expects to hit 200 million Q1, he said. “The team has done a phenomenal job building [C-band] out since we started a little over a year and a half ago,” he said. C-band capital expenditure will peak this year at as much as $6 billion and “will come down next year and ... the year after as well,” Ellis said.