Will telecom operators be able to install 5G at airports?
The question has been tormenting the staffs of telecom operators for a little over two weeks.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has set foot in the dish.
The DGAC is based on an American report which estimates that the 3.5 GHz frequencies could jam aircraft radio altimeters.
Annoying when you know that these little pieces of equipment are used to calculate the distance between planes and the ground.
"
There is no specific concern in the 3.5 GHz band,
" said the National Radio Frequencies Agency (ANFR), referring to the investigation of a file "
which is happening normally, with discussions
”.
In the end, "a
lot of excitement for not much
", tries to temper someone close to the file.
Indeed, before civil aviation, the weather services were alarmed last year to suffer from possible interference due to the use by telecoms of these frequencies.
"The problem has been solved,"
says the ANFR, calm about its ability to do the same for aviation.
Indeed, the Americans do not use quite the same frequencies as the Europeans for their 5G and their satellites, which would explain the differences in interpretations and solutions to be implemented.
In detail, the United States will use the 3.7 GHz to 4 GHz band, while in France, operators have been granted licenses in the 3.4 GHz to 3.8 GHz band.
Radio altimeters emit in between 4.2 GHz and 4.4 GHz.
"
The problem, posed in the United States, must above all find a solution in the United States before the auctioning of the 3.7-4.0 GHz band there, closer to that of radio altimeters than in France
" , we summarize at the ANFR.
The discontent of telecom operators
For their part, telecom operators are worried about having to suffer the consequences of this new controversy.
In fact, airports are important potential customers for 5G, which must in particular allow them to connect more objects.
This concerns both the implementation of new services for travelers and, on the other hand, professional applications for maintenance, surveillance, management of devices ... An important "industrial vertical", to use the jargon of the operators. .
The latter have also reacted through their federation, the FFTélécoms, saying they are "
very attentive to questions of coexistence with equipment which uses frequencies close to those to which they are assigned
".
They recall “
that mobile and aeronautical systems have coexisted for a long time, but this coexistence is based on rules that are shared and drawn up in a consensual manner.
The new technical constraints that could weigh on the use of 3.5 GHz frequencies should have been anticipated by public actors, in particular in order to have a harmonized approach at European level, and their cost assessed, while operators have spent nearly 2.8 billion euros in frequency auctions and that the services are starting to be launched
”.
