FAA, Wireless Companies Attempt Last-Minute Accord On 5G

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A 5G cell tower in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Jan. 11, 2022. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by George Frey.
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U.S. officials, wireless companies and airlines are in talks to expand 5G buffers at airports in an attempt to allow the signals to switch on Wednesday without widespread flight disruptions, according to four people familiar with the discussions.

Federal Aviation Administration officials and AT&T and Verizon Communications are attempting a last-minute agreement after airlines on Monday said that the 5G signals could cause “catastrophic” restrictions. The people asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive talks.

The 5G airwaves the companies plan to use are close to signals used by key aircraft navigation and safety equipment and the FAA believes it has the potential to interfere with aircraft systems.

The Biden administration is actively engaged in the talks, said a White House official who asked not to be identified discussing the negotiations.

The FAA, Federal Communications Commission, wireless carriers, airlines and aviation equipment manufacturers are discussing ways to allow maximum 5G deployment while also protecting air safety and minimizing disruptions to flights, the official said.

The talks center on a proposal to expand buffer zones around airports in which 5G cell towers wouldn’t be permitted, one of the people said. Such expanded protections for airports have been sought by airlines in letters to government officials Monday and Tuesday.

At the same time, the potential agreement would allow for about 90% of planned 5G service to proceed as planned, one of the people familiar with the talks said.

The controversy that erupted in the past day is a dramatic reversal from an agreement reached Jan. 3 that was described as a way to move forward with the new service while at least partially sparing the aviation industry.

The Jan. 3 agreement called for the Airlines for America trade group to pull back from plans to file suit to block the use of 5G airwaves and the wireless companies agreed to a two-week delay in the start of the service and said they’d restrict placement of cell towers near 50 U.S. airports. The two-week delay ends Wednesday.

Airline chiefs said in a letter on Monday that aircraft would still be subject to flight restrictions at the 50 airports, as well as dozens of other facilities across the country.

In addition, the FAA has begun identifying additional potential safety issues that could restrict flights, the airline officials said.

The FAA on Friday issued an order restricting how Boeing 787s may land and the agency has said it expects to issue other such advisories.

Chief executives of the major U.S. airlines and their lobbying group, Airlines for America, are involved in the negotiations with the FAA, FCC and others, two people familiar with the situation said Tuesday.

The Regional Airline Association, which represents smaller carriers that operate in partnership with larger operators, issued a statement Tuesday predicting “delays, dysfunction and chaos” if further restrictions weren’t put in place.

Air India’s operations from India to the U.S. will “stand curtailed/revised” from Jan. 19 due to the deployment of 5G services, the carrier said in a tweet on Tuesday.

AT&T and Verizon paid about $80 billion in auctions for the new frequency bands and have said they do not believe the so-called C-band airwaves will cause interference.

The FCC didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The wireless companies and their trade group, CTIA, didn’t immediately comment on the talks.

(c) 2022, Bloomberg · Alan Levin, Mary Schlangenstein 

{Matzav.com}


2 COMMENTS

  1. Is it true that these 5G towers that were put near hospitals messed up the ventilators that were inside, causing countless deaths?

    • No, just cruelty without 5G from malachei chaboleh who’ve replaced good doctors in hospitals today. “Remdesivir protocol the government pays the hospitals to use as the only treatment, labeling it as an antiviral, shuts down your body organs and kills your kidneys. Then your lungs fill up with water then they kill you with a ventilator to suffocate you.”

      However, “5G radiation which is as strong as a microwave can cause deaths to the vaxinated because of the graphene oxide, magnetism and alumininum they were injected with.”

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