Contentious Letter to FAA Says They're Overreaching With Demands

Deadlines never seem to be all that important until the 11th hour, and the impending launch of 5G wireless services have once again proved that human behavior can be fairly predictable.

 Verizon Communications and AT&T, the 2 biggest cell operators in the U.S., have told federal transportation authorities that they will no longer postpone the rollout of their new network services, deciding that they have held off long enough. The contentious 5G bands have brought out industry concerns over interference due to their theoretical overlap with radio altimetry frequencies, and possible errors in rangefinding during the landing approach. 

AT&T and Verizon offered a counterproposal that would see their networks operated at lower power output for the first 6 months, matching French regulations as their aviation industry assesses the equipment for interference. The companies had planned their 5G network activation for January 6th in select markets across the United States, the placement of which largely overlaps with some of the bigger, more heavily trafficked airports. The companies addressed Administrator Dickson of the FAA, reminding the agency of their goodwill up to now and sending the message that they can only accommodate the agency’s last-minute demands for so long.

AT&T noted the FCC's initial C-Band Order, repeating its promise that their rules would "protect aeronautical services in the 4.2-4.4 GHz band" and outlining the specific ranges used in their 5G frequencies. The company states that other countries have weathered the rollout to no (known) ill effect, saying "C-Band 5G service and aviation operations already coexist in nearly 40 other countries where C-Band spectrum has been deployed without any negative impact on aviation." 

AT&T takes issue with the last-minute action of the aviation regulators, restating their goodwill shown in November when the FAA requested they postpone 5G rollout. The newer, faster, more advanced network is a key piece of their cellular offerings, one which brings clear opportunity costs if kept from wider market availability. The company feels that the billions spent on building the infrastructure for the network, the immense capital paid for the use of the C-band spectrum, and its previous acquiescence to the FAA have been more than sufficient, and its duty to shareholders and customers now takes precedence. 

"Now, on the evening of New Year’s Eve, just five days before the C-Band spectrum will be deployed, we received [FAA] letter asking us to take still more voluntary steps - to the detriment of our millions of consumer, business and government customers - to once again assist the aviation industry and the FAA after failing to resolve issues in that costly 30-day delay period, which we never considered to be an initial one."

AT&T has had enough, saying that the pathway proposed by the FAA is an overreach that skirts good law and demands the companies give up their operational autonomy. "At its core, your proposed framework asks that we agree to transfer oversight of our companies’ multi-billion dollar investment in 50 unnamed metropolitan areas representing the lion’s share of the U.S. population to the FAA for an undetermined number of months or years. Even worse, the proposal is directed to only two companies, regardless of the terms of licenses auctioned and granted, and to the exception of every other company and industry within the purview of the FCC. Agreeing to your proposal would not only be an unprecedented and unwarranted circumvention of the due process and checks and balances carefully crafted in the structure of our democracy, but an irresponsible abdication of the operating control required to deploy world-class and globally competitive communications networks that are every bit as essential to our country’s economic vitality, public safety and national interests as the airline industry."

FMI: www.fcc.gov, www.faa.gov. www.att.net, www.verizon.com