Poor 5G, it never seems to get a break. First, internet loonies kept spreading fake information about how 5G radiation is killing bees and trees and spreading Covid-19. Then the United States banned Huawei from its 5G networks and pressured everyone else to follow suit. The ban not only increased costs to telecom providers (Huawei is by far the leading provider of 5G telecom equipment in the world), it resulted in America falling even further behind China. As this Washington Post article put it, “China Is Winning the Trillion-Dollar 5G War.” The ban has also been mostly ineffective at this more recent The Hill article elucidates, “Today only eight countries have been willing to join the American ban on Huawei’s 5G equipment, compared to the 90-plus countries that have signed up with Huawei, including NATO members Hungary, Iceland, the Netherlands and Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A principal reason why the United States has had trouble persuading countries not to use the Chinese telecom giant is that we have not offered a viable American alternative.”
Then just as AT&T and Verizon were finally about to turn on the switch to their 5G networks on 19 January, 2022; a firestorm erupted resulting in panic from global airlines operating into the United States and cancelled flights. The original problem stems from a dispute between two different American regulators. As this 22 November 2021 article, Will 5G mean airplanes falling from the sky?, points out, “Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has objected to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) authorization to use newly opened airwaves for 5G networks. Their concern is that the 5G signals could possibly interfere with the radio altimeters used in automated aircraft landings.”
The Verge has probably one of the best synopsis of the current situation in this article, “The battle between the FAA, AT&T, Verizon, and airlines over 5G“. “Before the carriers activated their C-band equipment, the FAA created rules around how airplanes could land in low-visibility conditions. The carriers agreed to delay their rollouts in November 2021, pushing the date to January 5th, and also said they’d run their equipment at lower power around airports for six months, creating buffer zones and allowing the regulator more time to analyze the situation.”
“Then, the FAA requested another delay. The carriers initially rejected it before cutting a deal to push the date back to January 15th. As that deadline neared, there was a flurry of activity. A coalition of airlines and shipping companies claimed that the rollout could cause “catastrophic disruption” if it went through, and the carriers announced that they put further limits on their rollout around airports but lambasted the FAA in their statements.”
“The same day, several international airlines announced that they were canceling flights to certain airports in the US. Tim Clark, the president of Emirates Airlines had some scathing remarks about how the situation was handled, calling the rollout “one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issues […] I’ve seen in my aviation career” and saying that the airline didn’t have vital information until a few days before the rollout.)”. In an interview with CNN, “I need to be as candid as I normally am, and say this is one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issue subjects, call it what you like, I’ve seen in my aviation career because it involves organs of government, manufacturers, science, etc. And you know, the notion that, for instance, the United States government should sell its franchise for all the frequencies for a large amount of money [$81bn in 2021]. Somebody should have told them at the time – that the risks and the dangers they placed in certain frequency uses around field, airfields, metropolitan fields that should have been done at the time… We were aware of a 5G issue. Okay. We are aware that everybody is trying to get 5G rolled out after all it’s the super cool future of whatever it may be communication and information flow. We were not aware that the power of the antennas in the United States have been doubled compared to what’s going on elsewhere. We were not aware that the antenna themselves have been put into a vertical position rather than a slight slanting position, which then taken together compromise not only the radio altimeter systems but the flight control systems on the fly by wire aircraft. So on that basis we took that decision late last night to suspend all our services until we had clarity.”
“Wireless carriers in nearly 40 countries throughout Europe and Asia now use the C band for 5G, with no reported effects on radio altimeters that operate in the same internationally designated 4.2-4.4 GHz band,” CTIA, a U.S. wireless trade group, said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission.
“The technical data received from EU manufacturers offers no conclusive evidence for immediate safety concerns at this time,” the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) told CNN Business on Wednesday.” At this time, EASA is not aware of any in-service incidents caused by 5G interference,” added the regulator, which oversees civil aviation in 31 European countries. The story is much the same in the United Kingdom, where the Civil Aviation Authority issued a safety notice on Tuesday that said “there have been no confirmed instances where 5G interference has resulted in aircraft system malfunction or unexpected behavior.”
According to CNN, “Why is there a potential problem in the United States, but not Europe? It comes down to technical details. Mobile phone companies in the United States are rolling out 5G service in a spectrum of radio waves with frequencies between 3.7 and 3.98 GHz. The companies paid the US government $81 billion in 2021 for the right to use those frequencies, known as the C-Band. But in Europe, 5G services use the slower 3.4 to 3.8 GHz range of spectrum. The aviation industry is worried that US 5G service is too close to the spectrum used by radar altimeters, which is between 4.2 and 4.4 GHz. Europe does not face the same risk, according to the industry, because there is a much larger buffer between the spectrum used by radar altimeters and 5G.
This argument seems disingenuous as Verizon’s filing to the FCC last November argues: “AT&T and Verizon are voluntarily adopting the precautionary measures described below despite the absence of any credible evidence that 5G deployments in the C-band will adversely affect radio altimeters in aircraft, as is confirmed by real-world experience around the globe. Tellingly, 5G systems have been deployed in the C-band in nearly 40 countries—with hundreds of thousands of operating base stations—without any reported incidents of harmful interference to
radio altimeters and without the FAA expressing any concern regarding the safety of U.S.-registered aircraft operating in those locations. For example, tens of thousands of 5G base stations in the C-band have been deployed in Japan with just 100 MHz separation from altimeter operations—as compared to the minimum 220 MHz separation in the U.S. and the 400 MHz separation for the initial launch of 5G systems being deployed in the near term. In Europe, where the 3400-3800 MHz band is harmonized for 5G, Spain, Denmark, and Finland have been operating 5G for up to three years without any interference claims, despite using spectrum
included in the U.S. initial launch C-band segment (3700-3800 MHz) with permitted power limits higher than permitted in U.S. urban areas.” In other words, there seems to be little or no technical differences with the 5G used in the US as opposed to Europe (and if anything, Japan’s technical difference is even more dangerous than the US coming far closer to the frequency used in altimeters) that would suggest there are safety issues.
This is clearly a failure of the US government and its regulators that are drawing in their respective private sector constituents (telecom providers AT&T and Verizon with the FCC and Airlines and airplane manufacturers with the FAA) as helpless pawns in this game of bureaucratic chess. Of this group, I personally point the finger at the FAA which is the one which is clearly escalating the issue and does not seem to be offering any concrete solutions despite the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any problems with the technology anywhere else in the world.
In a letter dated January 17 organized by trade organization Airlines for America, was addressed to White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Steve Dickson, and Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the airlines said 5G services could disrupt multiple systems in widebody aircraft, cause “chaos” for flights in the country, and “potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas.” Insider obtained a copy of the letter, which was signed by the CEOs of 10 major carriers including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, FedEx Express, United Airlines, and UPS Airlines. “Every one of the passenger and cargo carriers will be struggling to get people, shipments, planes and crews where they need to be. To be blunt, the nation’s commerce will grind to a halt.”
What this ignores is that it is not that 5G services that would cause the disruptions; it is the fact that the FAA will put massive restrictions on flights and operations if the 5G network is turned on. In other words, the FAA, after months of delays, has decided to push the nuclear option button and threaten huge transportation disruptions if it doesn’t get its way. As an official AT&T statement points out, “we will continue to work with the aviation industry and the FAA to provide further information about our 5G deployment, since they have not utilized the two years they’ve had to responsibly plan for this deployment… we are frustrated by the FAA’s inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it do so in a timely manner.”
Where does Biden and the White House stand in all of this mess? Well this is the White House’s official statement on 4 January 2022:
“My Administration is committed to rapid 5G deployment, while minimizing disruptions to air operations and continuing to maintain the world’s safest airspace. Last night’s agreement is a significant step in the right direction, and we’re grateful to all parties for their cooperation and good faith. This agreement ensures that there will be no disruptions to air operations over the next two weeks and puts us on track to substantially reduce disruptions to air operations when AT&T and Verizon launch 5G on January 19th. For the last few months, my Administration has been convening technical experts at the FAA, the FCC, and from the wireless and aviation industries to discuss a solution that allows the expansion of 5G and aviation to safely co-exist, and I am pleased those efforts helped produce yesterday’s agreement. I want to thank Secretary Buttigieg, FAA Administrator Dickson, and FCC Chair Rosenworcel, as well as AT&T and Verizon and airline industry leaders, for their tireless work to ensure that the expansion of 5G and aviation can safely co-exist.”
And here is the White House’s statement on 18 January 2022 after absolutely nothing has been settled in the past two weeks and the telecom providers have agreed to yet another voluntary delay in their 5G deployment (after paying $81bn just for the rights to the spectrum just last year):
I want to thank Verizon and AT&T for agreeing to delay 5G deployment around key airports and to continue working with the Department of Transportation on safe 5G deployment at this limited set of locations. This agreement will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled. This agreement protects flight safety and allows aviation operations to continue without significant disruption and will bring more high-speed internet options to millions of Americans. Expanding 5G and promoting competition in internet service are critical priorities of mine, and tomorrow will be a massive step in the right direction. My team has been engaging non-stop with the wireless carriers, airlines, and aviation equipment manufacturers to chart a path forward for 5G deployment and aviation to safely co-exist – and, at my direction, they will continue to do so until we close the remaining gap and reach a permanent, workable solution around these key airports.
To make it clear, over 40 countries around the world have managed to implement 5G networks (including Canada and much of Europe) and nobody else has this problem. Why is it that America, the so-called leader of the free world, the only one trapped in a Byzantine nightmare of being unable to implement a key new technology that, by it’s own reckoning (according to the White House) is key to its future prosperity. “5G is the future of the Internet and will touch every aspect of our lives. Countries and citizens need to be able to trust that 5G equipment and software will not threaten national security, personal privacy, or human rights. The stakes for securing these networks could not be higher. The United States believes 5G security can only be addressed effectively through a truly global approach and we are committed to engaging on this with all of our allies and partners to promote open, interoperable, secure, and reliable information and communications technology infrastructure supported by a supply chain of diverse, trustworthy suppliers.”
Oh yeah, I forgot, the problem with 5G must be the Chinese and Huawei.