The cancellation of flights to the United States by several international carriers, including Air India, is the latest in a series of setbacks for the airline industry due to security fears arising out of the 5G rollout. Previously, travel during the December-January holiday season was severely affected by the Omicron surge. The US government is stuck in a situation where it has to balance the concerns of airline and telecom firms.
The 5G rollout by telecommunications companies AT&T and Verizon is using C-band spectrum (3.7–4 GHz) that is close to the frequency band used by radar altimeters (4.2–4.4 GHz) on commercial aircraft, during landings. Help determine height. and take-off. Other countries that have switched to 5G are using frequencies in the relatively higher 3.4 to 3.8 GHz and have not faced problems in the aviation sector.
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An agreement proposed by the FAA and accepted by the two telecommunications companies includes not switching to 5G cellular antennas in proximity to 50 major airports. Verizon has said that it will not use high band frequencies that are close to those used by altimeters for many years. But 5G is the way forward and the C-band spectrum promises much higher speeds. Therefore solutions have to be worked out quickly to prevent distortion of radar altimeter communications. After the hardships faced during the pandemic, airline companies will not be happy to bear the higher cost on upgrades. Telecom companies paid about $81 billion to the US government to use these frequencies. In such a situation, the big question is whether it is the responsibility of the state to compensate the airline companies.
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