Major cell phone companies have rejected a government request to delay the rollout of 5G, the next-generation wireless technology, as a precaution against possible interference with aircraft instruments.
Verizon and AT&T sent a letter Sunday to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the director of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), dismissing concerns raised to the government by airlines.
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However, Hans Vestberg, director of Verizon, and John Stankey, director of AT&T, indicated in their joint letter that they were willing to accept temporary measures over the next six months to limit that service near airport runways.
Airlines had asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to delay the rollout of 5G near dozens of major airports, claiming it could interfere with pilots' electronic devices.
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"In essence, your proposal calls for us to agree to transfer to the FAA oversight of our multi-million dollar investments in 50 unidentified metropolitan areas that represent the majority of the United States population for an indeterminate number of months or years," the companies wrote, according to the CNN chain.
"Accepting that would not only mean an unprecedented and unjustified evasion of due process and carefully crafted checks and balances in our democracy, but an irresponsible abdication of the operational control necessary to deploy world-class and globally competitive communications networks," they added. .
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Airlines for America (A4A), a trade group that groups together the nation's large passenger and cargo carriers, said at an emergency meeting Thursday that the FCC has not adequately considered the damage that 5G service could do to the industry.
The group wants more time for the FCC and FAA to resolve aviation safety issues related to a type of 5G service called C-band.
5G technology provides, among other things, faster speeds of mobile connections, as well as connecting many devices to the internet without slowing it down.
The FCC and FAA stated that going ahead with the activation of 5G "will cause widespread and unacceptable disruption, as planes will be diverted to other cities or flights will be canceled," while a delay around certain airports would have an impact. short-term minimum.
"Aircraft will not be able to rely on altimeters for numerous flight procedures and therefore will not be able to land at certain airports," said the group, adding that the 11 airlines that comprise it face the need to divert or cancel “Thousands” of flights and suffer losses of more than 1,000 million dollars.
This situation affects the three main airports in the New York City area - LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark, in New Jersey - as well as O'Hare in Chicago, Logan in Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles International and San Francisco.
The trade group's attorney threatened to go to court next week if the FAA does not respond to the request.
The FAA said in early December that it will restrict pilots from using automated landing systems at certain airports following the rollout of 5G wireless service.
Democrat Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House of Representatives Transportation Committee, sided with the airlines, saying on Friday that the aviation and telecommunications sectors should work together "to find a safe way to deploy the technologies. 5G. "" We cannot afford to experiment with aviation security, "he said.
With information from The Associated Press and
CNN.