AT&T, Verizon agree to another year of C-band mitigation around airports

AT&T and Verizon have agreed to curtail their 5G networks around select airports for another year, until July 2023, under a new agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“The wireless companies offered Friday to continue with some level of voluntary mitigations for another year,” the FAA wrote in a release. The agency did not provide details on the specific mitigations, but suggested the operators would be able to resume operations after July 2023 “with minimal restrictions.”

In a statement distributed to the media, AT&T said it’s working to carefully increase its 5G power levels around airports in cooperation with the airline industry. “We have developed a more tailored approach to controlling signal strength around runways that allows us to activate more towers and increase signal strength,” the operator wrote. “Though our FCC licenses allow us to fully deploy much-needed C-band spectrum right now, we have chosen in good faith to implement these more tailored precautionary measures so that airlines have additional time to retrofit equipment.”

Added AT&T: “We will continue to work with the aviation community as we move toward the expiration of all such voluntary measures by next summer.”

Verizon issued a similar statement: “We will lift the voluntary limitations on our 5G network deployment around airports in a staged approach over the coming months meaning even more consumers and businesses will benefit from the tremendous capabilities of 5G technology,” Verizon’s Craig Silliman said in a release. “This progress is the result of months of close collaboration with the FAA, FCC and aviation industry, and sets the stage for continued, robust 5G deployment.”

At issue are concerns over 5G operations in midband C-band spectrum, and whether those operations might affect some aircraft altimeters operating at select airports around the country. The topic created a public relations debacle earlier this year, and AT&T and Verizon agreed to curtail their C-band operations around airports until July 2022 in order to discuss ways to address the situation.

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