(Washington) American airlines must quickly update their on-board instruments to allow telephone operators to reinforce 5G around certain airports, urged the American air regulator (FAA), in a new episode of the showdown between these two sectors.
Posted at 3:43 p.m.
Acting FAA Director Billy Nolen sent a letter this week to officials of major US airlines, asking them to act quickly to address the risks of 5G antennas interfering with aircraft electronics, the agency confirmed to AFP on Thursday.
After several postponements due to fears in the aviation sector, telephone operators AT & T and Verizon were able to deploy 5G around certain airports in mid-January.
But they had also agreed to postpone the activation of antennas installed near certain airports for six months, until July 5.
Operators now want to move forward, recalls Billy Nollen in his missive.
He therefore urged airlines to press ahead with upgrades to radio altimeters, warning that as mobile operators boost signals, some ‘lower performing aircraft’ may not be able to access certain airports. without the modernization of instruments.
The operators want to deploy all of their towers by the end of 2023, he said.
The showdown between AT & T and Verizon, which had paid tens of billions of dollars in early 2021 for the rights to use new frequency bands for 5G, and the airlines, which warned of the risks of chaos and the fears for security, lasted several months.
The problem had started to grow in November, after the publication by the FAA of a bulletin on radio altimeters, instruments measuring the distance separating the plane from the ground which can be essential in the event of poor visibility.
Certain frequencies allocated to AT&T and Verizon for the deployment of their 5G, which range from 3.7 to 3.98 gigahertz (GHz), are indeed close to those used by these radars, which operate in the spectrum of 4, 2 to 4.4GHz.
If there is no risk of direct interference, the transmit power of the 5G antennas or some of the upward-pointing emissions could cause problems for some altimeters that may be interfered with by these nearby frequencies.
Billy Nolen underlines in his letter to expect further details on the airports concerned during a new round table scheduled for Friday.