Verizon and AT&T said Tuesday (Jan. 18) they’ll postpone the rollout of 5G cellular service near some U.S. airports amid fears across the aviation industry that the technology would interfere with airline equipment and cause the aircrafts to malfunction when it was to debut Wednesday (Jan. 19), The New York Times (NYT) reported.
President Joe Biden said in a statement the delay will avoid “potentially devastating disruptions” to air travel as it attempts to recover from the ongoing spread of the pandemic across the U.S. and around the world, with a recent surge triggered by the omicron variant.
Aviation regulators and airlines have expressed their doubt about 5G coexisting with safety equipment on planes, but the telecommunications industry has repeatedly argued that airlines have had years to prepare for the inevitable implementation of wide-scale 5G service, according to NYT.
A few foreign airlines canceled all flights to the U.S. scheduled for Wednesday before AT&T and Verizon announced their delay of 5G implementation at some airports, the report stated.
The delay came after an agreement between the carriers and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to push back the 5G rollout by two weeks after when airlines execs told the Biden administration the “nation’s commerce will grind to a halt” if the planned 5G debut went on as scheduled, according to the report.
Read more: Battle Over 5G Between US Airlines, Mobile Carriers Heats Up
More than 90% of the planned 5G networks crafted by AT&T and Verizon will go forward as planned Wednesday, Biden said in his statement.
AT&T said in a Tuesday statement per the NYT report that it had “voluntarily agreed to temporarily defer turning on a limited number of towers around certain airport runways” while it keeps on working with aviation regulators. Verizon said move forward with its Wednesday launch but would add some extra measures to address concerns around airports.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More