But the CEOs of the two telecommunications giants also said in a joint letter Sunday that they would be willing to commit to a six-month pause in deployment near certain airports.
AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. rejected a U.S. request to delay this week’s launch of a new variation of 5G mobile service that airlines said might interfere with aircraft electronics, posing a safety hazard.
The carriers cast the 5G rollout as a priority, citing a race with China to offer extensive high-speed mobile broadband, and escalating demand for wireless service amid the Covid pandemic. The wireless industry said power levels are low enough to preclude interference, and the gap between frequencies is sufficiently large to ensure safety.
The AT&T and Verizon executives in Sunday’s letter said that if aviation interests don’t escalate their campaign against the new signals, they would commit to not deploying towers near certain airports for six months. The offer is modeled after exclusion zones at airports in France, where 5G service is working on similar frequencies and U.S. airliners have landed.
The Airlines for America trade group in an emergency petition last week asked the Federal Communications Commission to delay the planned 5G deployment. The CTIA trade group that represents wireless interests told the FCC to reject the request.
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